And The Walls Come Tumbling Down
by Smudge93
Summary: Dean has been on his own since John bailed on him nearly three months ago and Bobby is worried so he decided to enlist Dean's help with what should be a fairly routine job. Only trouble, the word routine? - It isn't in the Winchester vocabulary
1. Chapter 1

DAY ONE

It was the pounding on the door, matching the pounding in his head, that dragged him from his restless slumber and had him half way to the door before he was even truly awake. Dean opened the door to the motel room and squinted at the man on the other side. It took a moment for his brain to register Bobby's face.

"Well are you gonna let me in or what?" Bobby pushed past him and walked into the room, stepping over the salt line and stopping. "Boy this room is a bigger dump than the house I live in." The gruff old hunter lifted the clothes from the seat next to the table before collapsing into it and lifted his cap to scratch his head as he took in the scene of devastation in front of him. "Jesus Dean, no one can live like this."

Dean slammed the door and threw himself down on the bed nearest him. "I have a system."

"What? Wear it until it can walk on its own and then it can go to the laundry and wash itself?" Bobby leant over towards him resting his arms on his thighs. "It smells like a brewery in here kid, what's being going on with you?"

"Been busy Bobby that's all, needed some down time." Bobby noted that Dean didn't look him in the eye as he spoke; only sat forward and played with the cover on the bed beneath him.

"You heard from your old man or that brother of yours lately?"

Bobby realised that he'd hit the nail on the head of the problem as Dean shook his head, got up and took a slug from the whisky bottle on the table. "Hair of the dog." He made the comment knowing that Bobby was staring at him, seeing through his walls, the mess in the room a testament to the equally big mess inside Dean himself.

The younger man started to gather some clothes together, still in the sweatpants and the worn, grubby t-shirt that he had obviously slept in. "Give me a minute, I'll get cleaned up and dressed and we can go get something to eat." Dean stepped into the bathroom and stopped. "How did you find me anyway?"

"A hunter in a '67 Impala isn't that hard to find it you know the right places to look."

"Yeah, suppose not. I won't be long."

Bobby was glad Dean hadn't pushed on how he'd found him. It would have been kind of hard to explain why Bobby had been tailing him for the last month, worried at Dean's tone the last time he'd spoken to him. He'd gotten in his truck right after the call and headed to where Dean had told him he'd be. He then spent the time following him and trying to dig up a gig that he'd need help on just so that help could be Dean, whether he liked it or not.

He smiled at the memory of the couple of times the kid had almost caught him, Dean was a good hunter but Bobby's luck had held mainly because of the contents of the half empty bottle in front of him. A sober Winchester would have rumbled his tail well before now, but Dean had been anything but sober over the last few weeks. He cursed and saluted the whisky bottle on the table at the same time.

Bobby took in the empty beer bottles in the bin and the state of the room in general and realised that Dean was sorely in need of a friend in the absence of his family, the feeling that he had almost left it too long himself nagging at him. He knew that Dean hated being on the road on his own and that the younger hunter had been just drifting from job to job, filling his time until his father deemed to lower himself to call his son when he was in need of his help if not his company.

Bobby spotted Dean's phone lying on the table and hesitated only for a moment. He flicked the phone opened and looked at the calls lists. Dean had obviously being trying to get a hold of his dad, ten calls that he had made in the last week were all to John and Bobby had no doubt that they had gone all to voicemail. He noticed that there was one in the middle of them to Sam.

The elder hunter sighed. Dean had given up everything for the other two members of his family and they had all but abandoned him. He cursed the other Winchesters quietly under his breath.

Dean appeared from the bathroom and grabbed his jacket from the bed. "You fit?"

"Yeah, let's go."

They walked down to the diner in a comfortable silence.

Sliding into the booth they ordered a couple of coffees while they decided what to eat, Dean casually mentioning that he wasn't really hungry despite almost devouring the menu with his eyes. Bobby wondered just how low on funds his companion was running. "Get what you want, this is my treat for agreeing to help me on this job."

Dean smiled. "I haven't agreed to anything yet." He knew what Bobby was up to, but, having spent the last of the little money he had on alcohol, he was too broke and too hungry to call him on it.

Bobby lent over and tapped the top of his hand. "Oh, you will."

Dean crossed his arms, mock annoyance on his face. "I will, will I? Why?"

Bobby flicked his eyebrows at him. "'Cos I'm irresistible….and this is a paying gig."

Dean laughed this time, the joy in it reaching his eyes and making Bobby smile back in return. "Well it'll have to be a yes then, won't it."

The waitress brought their coffee and took their order and Bobby smiled as Dean couldn't resist a little flirt with her, her face lighting up at the attention from his good looking companion. When she brought the food the elder hunter didn't miss the napkin that was folded and placed next to the middle Winchester; another number for Dean's not so little, little black book. He coughed into his hand as Dean folded it into his pocket. "So what's this job that you need a hand with?" Dean dragged his attention back from the waitress and closed his eyes briefly, savouring the coffee hit as it worked it's way through his system.

"An old shopping mall in Hamilton, huge place if a bit run down. I know the guy that does the security there and he's not happy, more than a few strange things going on; usual cold spots, one shop caught fire with no obvious cause and a few of the staff have had some nasty accidents. James called me to take a look around the place but its too big for me to search through on my own, I need someone that I can trust will do the search right….I don't want to have to do it twice."

Dean smiled and lent across the table. "It's ok, I'm a sure thing, you don't have to butter me up but it's appreciated." He fell back against the back of the seat again and draped his arm along the back, smiling again at the waitress as she passed by. "So what's our in?"

"Join Jim's team. Mall security."

Dean groaned.

"Don't tell me it's beneath you to pose as security?"

"Nah. I just hate wearing a uniform, that's all."

Bobby grinned. "But it's a pretty green colour…go with those eyes of yours."

Dean made a face and took another mouthful of coffee. "So angry spirit trying to empty the place?"

"Looks that way, truth is the mall is half empty anyway. I've got a couple of culprits for the ghost, if that is what this is. Two guys killed doing maintenance over the last year and a shop worker that was electrocuted switching on the air conditioning."

"Ouch." Dean nodded. "Ok. So when are we going?"

"How soon can you pack?" Bobby signalled for the check.

"Soon as I've finished eating." Dean crammed another mouthful of food in.

"We'll take my car, the car park in this old centre is tight, the Impala'll have trouble getting in. I phoned Brian, he's gonna bring the low loader up and tow your 'baby' home to mine. Tuck it up until you get back."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "You want me to drive the piece of crap that you think passes for a car?"

Bobby grinned. "You could always take yours but don't come whining to me if you need a paint job by the time your through trying to park her or some old lady swipes her with a car door."

"Good point." He threw his keys over to Bobby. "You get her towed and I'll pack." He slid out of the booth and almost into the hovering waitress.

"You enjoy your meal?" She touched Dean's arm as she spoke.

"It was fine, thanks." He made to walk by her and then stopped, whispered something in her ear that made her blush from chin to hairline and then walked out, one backward glance over his shoulder at her as he did. Her colour deepened.

Bobby shook his head and handed the waitress some cash. "Here's a tip." He pushed a ten into her hand. "And here's another one. I love the guy like a son but he's not worth the trouble, love 'em and leave 'em type of guy."

She smiled at him shyly as he went to walk out. "I bet…but I bet that the first makes up for the latter though."

Bobby hid his grin and just kept walking.

---

They aimed to hit the road once Dean had ensured that his car was secure and undamaged on the back of the transport.

Bobby couldn't help noticing the look that crossed the younger man's face. "What? Dean…it's just a car, it'll be fine." He rolled his eyes and climbed into his own car.

Dean spoke quietly to himself. "No she's not. She family…and she's all that I've got left of it." He wiped his hand down his face and got in beside his friend. He sat watching as the last member of his family, the one that never let him down was taken away from him too. He shook his head, sighed and then snapped himself out of the funk that he'd slipped into.

"You ok?" Bobby cast him a worried glance as he started the engine.

"Yeah." Dean settled back in the seat. "Wake me up when we get there?"

"You know I will, just don't snore the whole way there…I might have to leave your ass at the side of the road if you do."

"Such love." Dean closed his eyes and drifted.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

This story had a slow build but it will take off in the next chapter or two. Thanks for the reviews for the first chapter, love me some reviews!!

Day Two

"Seriously? This is it?" Dean rolled his eyes as Bobby pulled into the carpark of the dilapidated shopping mall. "God Bobby, I've burnt down better looking places than this. I'd say the ghost was doing them a favour, this place is falling to pieces."

Bobby laughed. "Hey, you of all people should know not to judge a book by it's cover."

"Yeah, but Bobby, I think the cover fell off of this book a while ago. It's wetter in here than it is outside." There was a little river of water running from two of the pipes that they were driving under that Bobby had to put the wipers on to clear. "Do they charge extra for the carwash?"

Bobby glowered at him. "They've spent most of the money on the inside so far, new floors, lighting and AC; all stuff like that. They're gonna start on the outside and the carpark next year."

Dean eyed the rather alarming large cracks and the peeling paintwork that covered the parking level that they were on. "Sure it'll stand that long?"

"Quite your bitching and get out." Dean opened the door and Bobby caught his arm. "First, give me that flask your carrying." Dean scowled at him and handed him the silver flask. "Funny. You can drink as much holy water as you like, might even clean that mind of yours out. I want the other flask. If you're helping me, you're doing it sober."

Dean sighed, took back the silver flask and handed Bobby the little leather covered one from his other pocket. "I get why my Dad and you don't get on, both got too many stripes on your sleeve."

"Kid, after this gig, working with your Daddy will seem like going on a Sunday School picnic. Now get out." Bobby had slid the car into one of the spaces and Dean was suddenly really glad that his Impala was tucked up safe at the old man's yard. He pushed the door as far as it would go and even then he struggled to get out. "Told you they were tight."

Bobby was having even greater difficulty on the other side.

"Is this like a new addition to the range of spaces, you know – disabled, parent and kids and anorexics?"

"Like I said, funny, now get your fat ass in the lift."

Dean looked at him in horror as the lift doors opened and its car bounced as they got on. "Really?"

Bobby tilted his cap back and sighed. "Really! Tell me why I wanted your help on this gig again?"

"My charm and razor wit." Dean gripped the sides of the lift to steady himself as the car wobbled past the floors until it finally stopped. Even Bobby had gone quiet. "Well that was alarming."

Bobby shot him a little nervous grin. "Wait until you get a shot on the service elevator." The elevator bounced up and the sank below the floor level as Bobby stepped off first and Dean nearly tripped as he tried to follow.

"Think I'll pass and in future, I'm walking. Seriously, if this place passes health and safety, I'd be shocked."

"Ain't any worse that some of the places you boys have called home over the years and they're still trading." Bobby walked along a little corridor and then they stepped out into another world.

Dean's jaw dropped a little as the automatic doors at the end opened out revealing the mall on the other side. "God you weren't kidding when you said they'd spent the money on the inside. Pity you'd be scared off before you got this far." The inside of the mall was like any other modern mall, bright lighting, clean white walls and floors and bright multi-coloured shop fronts that begged you to come in and take a look. Dean whistled. "It's like walking through the twilight zone to end up in Oz."

Bobby chortled at that. "Come on then Dorothy, security office is this way."

"I thought you said that this place was half empty, all the shops seemed to be filled on this level?" Dean slowed as he passed a shop selling ladies underwear.

"Top two levels are empty and the floor above this one is mainly just a food court, at one time though this place was the business, I used to come here when I was little."

That distracted Dean from the thongs that had caught his eye. "This place is _that _old?"

"Just stow the sarcasm will ya and hurry up!" Bobby walked off and down towards a door marked MALL SECURITY. He hit the buzzer and waited. A man wearing a badge that pronounced him to be Jim Morgan opened it and smiled at the elder hunter. "Bobby! You came back, in you come." He held the door, acknowledging Dean with a nod as he stepped through too. "Come on down to my office." They followed him along a dimly lit corridor that opened out into a small row of three rooms. He gestured to the one in the middle. "You boys want coffee?"

Dean answered first. "Love one. Black please."

"One black coffee coming up, Bobby the usual?" The older hunter nodded and they settled into chairs to wait for Jim's return.

"So." Jim put the tray with the coffees on it on the desk and gesture to the two men to help themselves. "I can't thank you enough for taking this on Bobby. We're just starting to get this place back on it's feet, and this presence, whatever it is, seems determined to undermine all our hard work."

"It's a pleasure Jim. This here is Dean Winchester, one of the best hunter that I know." He ignored the look of pleased shock that appeared on Dean's face. "If we can't solve this between us then you've really got problems." He turned to Dean. "This here is Jim Morgan, we went to school together near here, I've known his family forever. He's worked at this Mall for the past thirty odd years, isn't anyone that knows this place better than him."

"You two went to school together?"

Bobby knew where this was going. "Made him take a blood oath of secrecy about when I was a little 'un. So don't even bother askin'."

Dean grinned. "I just though all the folks that you went to school with would be dead by now, you know, of old age."

Jim snorted into his coffee at that and Bobby rolled his eyes. "Luckily the boy here is almost as smart as that mouth of his. Now Jim, what exactly has been happening?"

"It started as you know about three months ago, just after we fitted the AC units in. It was just people complaining of cold spots and we thought that it was just teething problems with the system; then Janine got electrocuted and we had to shut the place down for a weekend to get the system checked. It cost us and the shops a pretty bit and the system came back clean. No reason for the accident."

"Wait." Dean was confused. "It cost us? Is this your place?"

"My father has a holding company that owns the Mall. I just work here. Anyway after Janine, two of the guys that were doing the routine maintenance on the AC were killed. Freak accident we were told. Million to one shot. A section of the pipe work that they were checking collapsed on them. The whole system is months old yet the bolts sheared on this part due to metal fatigue. I don't buy it but to raise a red flag means shutting the centre and it we do that, all these people are out of work and round here, this is a major employer. That's when I thought of you."

Dean was sitting in quiet thought and Bobby turned to look at him. "Penny for them?"

"Not worth it. Maybe the ghost just doesn't like the cold?" His smile was only a half one and he played with the cup in his hand, thinking. Bobby sat quietly, waiting for him to go on. "You checked the system over again after the second accident?"

"Yeah, whole thing was gone over from the coolers on the roof to the last switch on the shop floors. Twice." Jim sat back in his chair. "What?"

"Well your ghost isn't one of the people that died." Dean took another sip of his coffee.

"How'd you figure that?"

"Because you were having cold spots before the first victim, this is something or someone else. Any other deaths in the place before that?"

"Been a few over the years. Mainly shoppers. You know heart attacks and stuff. Nothing that would ring alarm bells."

Dean wiped his hand over his face. "Bobby said that there was fire in one of the shops?"

Jim nodded. "Yeah. We only found out yesterday that the cause was faulty wiring."

"Don't tell me….links back to the AC?"

"Sure does. A section that was checked when Janine got electrocuted." Jim stood. "You guys want the tour? We can start at the roof and work our way down. Oh and here." He reached behind him and grabbed some plastic bags with clothes in them. "Welcome to Mall Security."

Dean grinned as he looked at Bobby. "Do these things come in XXXL?"

"Why? You worried you wont get your fat head through the hole in the t-shirt?" Bobby dead panned him.

Throwing his head back and laughing Dean slapped the older hunter on the back. "Bobby with the comeback."

"Just shut up and move." Bobby turned to Jim. "Thank God we'll be doing separate floors or you might have another death on your hands!" He shoved Dean out of the door. "Go get changed into your uniform boy."

"What now?"

"Yeah, now. Unless you want folks to think that you're a shoplifter. It'd be an easy mistake to make. You got those shifty eyes."

"Bite me old man. Where do I go to change?"

Jim smiled at them both. "You sure you guys are friends? Dean you can take my office and Bobby can go next door. I'll wait for you guys outside. Remember to bring you jackets, it's cold on the roof!"

Bobby smiled quietly to himself as he got changed. This job had caught Dean's interest and that was a good thing, while he was thinking about this he wasn't wondering what his family were up to or sitting drinking himself into a coma. He finished dressing and stepped outside.

Dean was standing fidgeting with the collar of the work shirt. "I hate uniforms. I think they make the neck too small on purpose." He appraised his friend. "You really fit in though, got that whole mall guard shape going for you." The smirk was a trademark one. "Need to get rid of this though!" Dean snatched his cap and put it on the table.

Bobby hauled up the pants over his stomach. "People have died for less than touching that you know and this…..", he patted his middle. "….I earned my stomach, and the crap you eat'll catch up on you too some day boy…..take it from an expert. Now move!"

---

The tour did nothing to ease Dean's concerns about the state of the place in general. They stepped out onto the roof and he walked out a little way and then stopped. "Sure this roof is safe, there are a heck of a lots of cracks on it?"

"Air conditioning boys broke it up a little but the company that installed them is coming back to do some remedial work, it's all superficial according to the reports that they got done."

Dean acknowledged him with a nod. "Still, I think I'll stay here, if it's all the same with you." He pulled the EMF from his pocket and started to walk round the edge of the roof.

Bobby and Jim stood and chattered while they watched him work. "What's that your boy's got there?"

"EMF. It's like a tracking device for ghosts, if its been up here it should cause the meter to spike."

"Ok." They shot the breeze until Dean came back round.

"Well?"

Dean shook his head. "Couple spikes but I think that was just the AC units messing with it, nothing to write home about."

"Ok then, downwards and onwards." Bobby scratched at his head. "I miss my damn cap!"

Jim laughed. "I'll get you a security one, will that do you?"

"Nah." It was Dean that answered. "His own one is Bobby's version of a security blanket. My brother he hid it once, don't know what Bobby did to him but he never touched it again."

"He made me leave my cap behind downstairs, but that's only 'cos I stole his blanket from him before we came here."

Jim eyed Dean. "So what's your security blanket?"

"A '67 Impala, but after seeing your car park, I'm kinda glad he did."

"I'll bet. So you guys up for the rest of the tour? Bobby you said something about setting up some equipment to see if the ghost was on the top floor at all?"

Bobby nodded as they started to walk, him and Jim in front and Dean still checking for EMF and bringing up the rear. "Yeah, just a coupla motion detectors and a night vision infra red video camera, see what we can catch."

They started their sweep of the fifth floor. It was empty except for a few items that had been flung up there for storage and it had an oppressive feel due to the fact that all the windows had been blacked out.

Dean stopped.

"Did you guys feel that?" He swung the EMF in a slow arc and raised an eyebrow as the needle spiked a little.

"Nah. Whatcha got?" Bobby moved over to him.

"Think Casper was just passing through. It was definitely something though." He moved round the floor but the EMF remained stubbornly silent. "Can we see the shops that had the trouble?"

They spent the next two hours wondering round the mall before going back to the car and getting their gear to set up on the fifth floor.

Once that was done, they said their goodbyes to Jim and headed for the motel.

Bobby was sitting on the bed flicking through the channels as Dean came out from having a shower. "I got you food, it's on the table."

"Thanks." Dean sat down and groaned as the taste of the bacon double cheeseburger filled his mouth. "That's good." He chewed for a moment and then washed it down with the bottle of cola that Bobby had left beside it. "So, do you think that Jim could get me some plans of the place tomorrow. I'd like to see the before and after of the AC going in. See what the contractors disturbed. Might go to the library too, see if I can dig up the newspaper reports about the place getting a new lease of life."

Bobby raised his cap and scratched his head. "Don't let this old man's body fool you, I ain't that senile yet that I can't see what you're doing. You just wanna get out of wearing the uniform for as long as possible."

"I just didn't want your old bones to seize sitting in the same spot for too long, that's all." Dean grinned and finished his meal, balling the empty wrapper and hit the bin with a dead centred shot.

Bobby smiled as his friend celebrated the shot. "Ok, I'll give you tomorrow, but the next day, you're in the uniform and out on patrol."

"Yes, sir!" Dean yawned and rubbed his hand over his hair. "I'm gonna crash, it's been kinda a long day. What about you?"

"Nah, gonna watch a little of the box for a while, maybe get a start on some of the research."

Bobby watched as Dean lifted his jacket and pulled his phone from his pocket, trying not to add to Dean's sigh when his friend checked it and it was obviously that no one had tried to reach him. He put his eyes back to the TV as Dean turned and threw the phone down on the bedside table and got into bed. "G'night Bobby."

"Night, Dean."

Bobby decided right there and then that he was gonna have words with the other Winchesters….if he could just get them to answer their damned phones.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

A/N thanks for the reviews, glad you are enjoying. Mary xx

* * *

Day Three

Bobby was pleased to see that Dean was up before he was, coffee already on the brew.

Jim was due to drop by. Bobby had called him last night after Dean had crashed and he had offered to pick Bobby up in the morning and drop off the floor plans of the mall and various paperwork that he had on the installation of the AC units and of the regeneration of the place itself.

Dean had already started to set up base camp. There was a notebook, some pens, pins and clips and John's journal sitting next to the laptop that Dean was staring at intently.

"Sleep well young 'un?" Bobby grabbed his wash bag from his duffle and headed for the bathroom.

"Yeah. I've just been going over a few things on the internet, that's when the damned connection doesn't go down." Dean took a slip from his coffee and grimaced. "This stuff tastes like shit."

Bobby backtracked and threw his wallet at him. "Here. Go get us somethin' decent to drink and some breakfast. Fancy me some bacon in a roll."

Dean's stomach growled.

"Was that you agreeing with me?" Bobby chuckled and got back on route for his morning ablutions.

"I'll pay you back." Dean was looking guiltily at the wallet in his hand.

"No need. Jim advanced me part of our first week's wage last night for expenses. I forgot t' say. There's two hundred dollars in there that belongs to you anyways. Now where's my damn coffee?"

Dean grinned and grabbed his jacket. "I'm on it."

---

After Bobby had left, Dean started to shift through the mountain of paperwork that Jim had brought with him. He took the two plans of the mall first, smiling as he held them up to the light of the window. "Well that's one job made easier." He pulled the curtains aside and taped them to the pane of glass, the newest plan first. Fetching a sharpie from the desk he marked the areas where they'd changed the original layout of the floors. There were a couple of new elevator shafts on the outside of the building and new escalators that had been cut into the floors, all the way up to the fourth. He changed the sharpie for a different coloured one and marked the areas where items belonging to the AC had been added, the most noticeable being the cooling units on the roof.

That done he took them down and just pinned the old one to the wall, folding the other up and placing it to the bottom of his pile.

Jim had brought a folder that had a load of press cuttings in it, from problems with the planning to delays in the opening of the refurbished floors, onto reports into the deaths and the closure when the AC was getting checked. "Maybe I won't have to go to the library after all." He sat down and sorted them into loosely related piles and then re-booted the laptop that had powered down on him. Next, he drew up a timeline and then slowly started to slot the pieces of information that he deemed relevant into it.

The work inevitably made him think of Sam.

Casting an eye to the phone on the night stand he tapped the pen that he had in his hand against the side of the computer. Then he glanced at his watch. Sam would probably be on lunch, sitting in the canteen with his friends. He eyed his phone again and sighed, standing and going over to pick it up. Dialling his brother's number he stole himself for him actually answering. He needn't have bothered, the voicemail kicked in after a few rings. "Hey Sam, it's Dean…. but you'd know that already from the caller ID. Probably why you didn't pick up right? Thing is……I'm just calling to apologise for the message I left the other day……what can I say……it was a drunk dial……anyway……can you just call me back…..please……I…I ….." the call cut off to a message that the voicemail box was full. "……I miss you." He wiped at his face and threw the phone down on the bed. A second later he jumped as it rang, the unexpected noise startling him in the quiet of the room. Without thinking he picked it up and opened it. "Sam?"

There was a beat of silence. "Nah, it's Bobby kid. I was just callin' to see if you found anything interesting. Did your brother call?"

"No, I just…..I left him a message, I thought maybe…..I ain't found nothing yet Bobby. How's things on your end?"

Bobby let the subject change go. "Definitely something moving up on the fifth floor, it's just orbing on the camera for some reason. I'd swear that it's colder up there today, despite the weather picking up outside."

"Could be the AC playing up again?" Dean scrubbed his hand through his hair as if the gesture alone would clear his thoughts.

"Nah. It was more a 'someone's walking over my grave' kinda cold."

"Ok then, well I'll get back on it, see what I can dig up."

"Remember to stop and eat sometime as well, I know what you're like if you get the bit between your teeth."

"Yeah Dad." Dean laughed softly. "Bobby, this is me, when do I _ever_ forget to eat?"

The list in Bobby's head was long but it didn't make it out. "True, true. Well I'll be home at five dear, if you want to put the dinner on."

Dean just snorted and hung up.

---

Jim turned as Bobby growled and closed the phone. "Something up?"

"Not with Dean there ain't. I need a minute, got a coupla calls to make and you might not want to listen in, delicate ears an' all."

"I'm gone. I'll get you back in the office." Jim headed off and Bobby took a deep breath trying to decide which one to call first.

John's number was first on his phone. "It's Singer. Listen I don't know what job you've got going and I don't care. I want you to call Dean, even if it's just to say hi, 'cos if you don't, I'm gonna hunt your ass down and make good on the threat of what I was gonna do to you with my shotgun, d'you hear me!?" He killed the call and dialled Sam. It went straight to voice mail but informed him that he couldn't leave a message at this time. "You got a stay of execution, but you're next." He slipped the phone back into his pocket and headed for the stairwell at the end of the floor.

He was halfway there when the lights went out.

---

Dean had found something, it wasn't much but it was enough to fill him with a sense of unease and that meant he noted it down. There were memos from the engineering company and looking at them it looked as if two of the firm of engineers that designed the refit had quit half way through the first part of the job. Their names were on the first five or six but missing from the others. Dean wrote 'other project?' on the last memo they were mentioned on and then retrieved his phone once more. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the desk as the call connected.

"Anderson, Kyle and Partners. How may I direct your call?" The voice was the usual cold and efficient receptionist's voice.

"Hi, I'm looking for Grant Thomson or Gary Wellhouse?"

There was a pause. "I'm sorry, they no longer work for this firm. Can I ask who's calling please?"

Dean wrote 'no' next to his original note. "It's ok, it was a personal matter." He hung up before she could press further.

The other thing that had caught his eye was a newspaper cutting about one of the woman, also an engineer, who worked for the air conditioning company. She had been reported missing after a late evening visit to the mall and as far as he could tell she still was. There was a photo so Dean noted the name on his timeline and stuck the picture to the wall next to the floor plan. There was a cop's name on the report and he called enquires for the local sheriff office's number.

"Hi, Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. Can I help you?"

"Hi. This is Special Agent Young from the Washington bureau, I'm looking for Detective Greenwood?"

"Barry's out at the moment, can I help at all or take a message?"

"I'm looking for his paperwork on a case. Pauline Woods, an engineer, she went missing a few months back?"

"I know the case. Why's the FBI interested in that?"

"We may have a case that links to it. I need a copy of the file, can you get me that? I'll be down in say…thirty minutes?"

"I can, as long as you've got the proper paperwork and a badge."

"I'll have it." Dean ended the call and stood up to shrug his shirt off when it hit him. His suit….was in the Impala. "Dammit to hell." He stood for a minute. "Screw it." Checking that his ID was in his jacket he decided to head out and try his luck anyway.

---

Dean almost made to the cop shop. He was pulling into the parking lot when his phone rang again. Fumbling for it he tried not to let the disappointment fill him when Bobby's name flashed on the caller ID.

"Hey Bobby. You find something?"

"Dean. It's Jim."

Dean felt it as his blood turn to ice. "What happened? Where's Bobby?"

"Ghost showed up and knocked him about a bit. Furthest I could get him to go was the medical centre in the mall, thought you might be able to persuade him that he should get a check at the ER. His head's bleeding and he was out when I found him."

"I'm on my way." Dean took a look at the building he was parked in front of and shrugged. "It'll keep." With that he turned the car and headed for the mall.

---

Dean had shaved a little of Bobby's head and applied some butterfly stitches to the wound there. Jim waited anxiously in the background. "Is he going to be ok?"

"I'll tell you in a minute." Dean walked round to face Bobby and held up his fingers. Bobby groaned.

"How many fingers?"

"Two."

"Your name?"

"I know my damn name!"

"Then tell me what it is?"

"Robert Steven Singer. You happy?"

"And who am I?"

"You're a pain in my ass!"

"Not what….who?"

"Dean….friggin'….Winchester."

"That's not correct."

"You want what I want to call you right now?"

What's your address?"

"Boy, you are enjoying this way too much and if you don't get outta my face, it's gonna be you that's takin' a ride to hospital!"

Dean grinned at Jim. "He's fine, but I'm taking him back to the motel." He checked Bobby's eyes again and got swatted for his trouble. "Our ghost just punch the ticket on your first shift as a security guard."

"Funny, don't feel like my ticket that she punched." Bobby touched the ice to the round bruise on his bare stomach.

"Yeah, well she got the bit with most padding and the hardest part took on the stairs, so all's well that ends well. Wait….she? You got taken out by a _girl_?" Dean choked back his laugh.

"A girl with a pole! She screamed at me to get out and stay out, then she rammed me with what looked like an acro prop. What a bitch!"

"Hey. That's my line!" Dean handed him some Advil and water. "Take the edge off it."

Jim was hovering. "You sure that he shouldn't be checked out?"

Dean shook his head. "Nah, I've seen him with worse, but I'll keep an eye on him tonight just the same." He turned back to Bobby. "And tomorrow, we're switching roles."

"Knew it. "Bobby let himself be helped off the table.

"What?"

"That I shouldn't a' told you that the ghost was a girl."

"Hey even I have standards old man and since what you're implying is, I think, technically impossible…."

"If there was a way I'm sure you'd have found it by now."

Dean laughed at that. "I like my woman _hot,_ thanks all the same." He held out Bobby's shirt for him and laughed again at the growl before it was snatched from his hands.

Jim felt like he was at a tennis match and he wasn' t really sure if he shouldn't step in as umpire.

"She was hot." Bobby shrugged the material up over his shoulders.

"I am so not taking your word for that, I've seen your taste in woman." Dean held out Bobby's cap to him.

"I've seen yours too remember, and having a pulse does not make 'em hot."

"At least the woman that hit on me _have_ a pulse."

Bobby flipped him the finger.

"Let's get you back to the motel." Dean could see that Bobby was flagging even under all the lip that he was getting.

"That sounds like a plan."

"I'll even make you that dinner that you wanted."

"Am I that bad?"

"Death's door, now come on."

Jim called after them as they left. "Will you guys be back tomorrow?"

Dean called back but didn't turn, his hand hovering behind Bobby's back but not touching. "Hell yeah. See you tomorrow Jim."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Hey. Dean gets to meet Pauline in this one!

Hope you are enjoying! Mary x

Day Four 

Bobby came out of the bathroom and tried not to let Dean catch the scowl on his face as he caught his friend checking his phone again.

"Hey Bobby. How you feeling?" Dean looked up briefly as he spoke.

"I'm ok kid. Hard head and rock hard abs." He patted his less than sculpted belly causing Dean to chuckle.

"Well one outta the two isn't bad. Here." Dean handed him the glass of water and two Advil and Bobby wondered how hard he'd hit his head that he didn't register Dean dropping the phone and getting the water and the meds.

"Thanks." The older hunter swallowed them down gratefully. "Better get dressed, don't want you being late, what with this being you first official day an' all."

Dean smirked at that and then grew serious again. "Bobby, you should stay here, that's a good sized lump that you've got there old man, and we need someone to do the research on this thing."

"Not happening. I want to know what this bitch is up to." Bobby shrugged off the concern and started to dress. "Why ain't you got your uniform on?"

"Need to make a stop on the way to the mall, don't think the cops'll believe that I'm FBI if I turn up in a guard's uniform." Dean reached for his gun and his phone and slotted the gun into his waistband and shoved the phone into his pocket. "You got your suit with you?"

"Yeah, it's in the trunk." Bobby stopped getting dressed. "Why you want me to play the G man?"

Dean nodded. "Would be an idea."

"Shoes are in there too." Bobby tossed him the keys from the bedside table that he was now sitting next too. "Get some coffee while you're out there."

----

They were outside the station with Bobby now suitably suited and booted and Dean resplendent in his uniform. "So do you think this Pauline Woods is a good shot for our ghost?" Bobby threw his cap on the seat and attempted to straighten his hair over the worst of the lump on his head.

"Yeah. The only two others that I want to find and speak to are guys so…."

Bobby opened the door. "…I'll go get the paperwork."

Dean cranked down the window, the heat in the day starting to build already, and had pulled his phone before Bobby had even made the door in. He called up his dad's number and hit dial. "Hey, it's me. Just to let you know that I'm working a gig with Bobby in Hamilton…looks like some kinda ghost or vengeful spirit. So anyway….call me if you need me." He hung up and sighed, catching sight of his reflection in the rear-view mirror. "What are you looking at? Yeah I know, I'm pathetic. You know what, screw them." Leaning forward he opened the glove box, threw his phone in and slammed it shut. "Can't have that distracting me today either." He lent back in the seat and closed his eyes, wishing that Bobby hadn't confiscated his flask.

He lay there muttering to himself, letting his mind drift in the warmth of the car, and then jumped as the door opened and Bobby slid in.

"Kid, you talking to yourself? That's a real bad sign."

"At least I get an answer." Dean's tone was bitter. "You get the file?"

"Yep." Bobby flicked him a look but said nothing. He opened the file on his lap. "I'll read as you drive."

Dean pulled out into the traffic. "Pauline Woods. Engineer and architect. She's 29. Lives local. Only worked for the firm for three months before she disappeared. This was her first major project with them. She went to a meeting on the fifth floor regarding the installation of the AC units and the structural loads. Her colleagues say that they walked her to her car and then – boom – she just doesn't come to work the next day and no one has seen hide nor hair of her since."

Dean turned and gave him a quick glance. "So if she is our ghost then maybe the colleagues are lying? Do you think she's in there somewhere?" He turned into the carpark of the mall and drove down until he found a quiet floor easing the car into a space that, thankfully had empty ones on either side.

"Don't know on either score but I aim to find out." Bobby headed for the lift and, after retrieving his duffle from the car, Dean joined him.

"You ain't going upstairs today." Dean pulled the laptop from his bag. "You can sit in the office with your feet up and if I need you, I'll call."

The lift arrived and Dean stepped on, Bobby righting the laptop in his hands and following on. "Now just wait a goddamned minute there boy, this thing got the jump on me yesterday, it's killed already. You're crazy if you think I'm gonna let you go up there on your own."

"Well it has been said…..and I'm not letting you go up there full stop. So live with it."

"You gonna stop me?" Bobby turned to him with an amused smile on his face which was wiped as the lift banged passed one of the floors. "Jesus."

"I will if we live that long. Seriously, could they not have started with the lifts?" Dean closed his eyes and lent against the back wall.

"Forgot you don't like lifts or heights, good job all them windows on the fifth floor are blacked out, else you'd be too chicken to go up there." Bobby chuckled at the black look his companion gave him before the lift stopped and Dean almost sprinted out.

"I hate being shut in is all, and it's not heights that I don't like…it's the fact that you can fall from them, you know….crappy lift cables snapping, planes crashing….not the 'being high' thing that I have the problem with."

They walked through the as yet quiet mall floor to the security door, keying the code, and heading for Jim's office.

The other man was already behind his desk when they walked in and he stood to greet them, his eyes on Bobby's injury. "Bobby, how you doing?"

"I'm fine, Jim. I've had worse than this, believe me."

"Yeah, but he's staying in this office today. Research only." Dean pulled the box file with all the paperwork to go through in it from his bag.

"Dean." There was a warning in Bobby's tone that the younger hunter chose to ignore.

"Don't Dean me." He shoved the box at Bobby. "If I need a hand I'll get Jim to do it." Dean reached for his duffle and started to head back out.

Bobby admitted defeat…for now. "Be careful. She's a sneaky bitch. Be on you a' for you know what hit you."

"I hear you old man." Dean threw a little grin at him and then headed out the door.

"Holler if you need us," Bobby called to the retreating back.

"You know I will." Dean waved a hand in acknowledgement and then disappeared out the door.

"So Jim." Bobby placed the laptop and the files on his friend's desk. "What can you tell me about the night Pauline Woods disappeared?"

"Pauline Woods?" Jim sat down opposite him. "Not much. Her boss stuck his head into the office to let me know that they were all gone. I know that there was some kind of row going on though. One of my guys was checking the floor, said you could hear them shouting all the way down the stairs to the 4th floor, he just couldn't make out what they were arguing about. They stopped the minute he came on site though."

"Can I speak to him?" Bobby started to make notes in Dean's timeline.

"He's on holiday until the end of the week, but I can call him if you like?" Jim reached for a little rolodex that was sitting on the corner of the desk.

"Nah, I'll get to him later."

"Do you think the ghost's Pauline? I only spoke to her once or twice but she was a nice lady. I never thought to mention her the other day when Dean asked about people dying here, I was kind of hoping that they'd still find her."

"The ones that get killed usually are nice, and then they turn nasty." He rubbed his head. "It may not be her. I didn't get a good look at her before she hit me. I'm gonna shuffle through this paperwork, see if I can't find what they were arguing about."

Jim stood. "I'm going to do a sweep of the floors, some of my guys are due breaks, I'll swing by Dean and check on him too if you'd like?"

"I'd appreciate it, he's less likely to shout at you for checking on him than he is me."

Jim nodded. "I hear you….", he lent it, "…..old man."

"Watch it! Only one person gets t'call me that and live." Bobby waved a finger at Jim as his friend headed off laughing.

---

Dean wished he'd brought his phone with him because now it was an even bigger distraction than it would have been if he had been walking about with the damned thing in his hand. Now he didn't know if his father or his brother had called him back and that knowledge was eating at him more than the pain of knowing that they hadn't would have been.

He pulled the shotgun out of his duffle and kicked the bag clean across the floor.

Trying to get his head back in the game he decided to start by checking the camera and the monitors for any sign of life, or non-life as it was in this case. That little thought made him smile. Like Bobby had said there were a few odds orbs of light on the stills from the camera, taken when the motion sensors had picked something up. The sensors were top end, picking up the air movements was enough to trigger them and they then in turn triggered the camera. The thought crossed Dean's mind to ask Bobby how the hell he had managed to acquire such state of the art tech for such a straightforward job.

There was a beep and he turned his head as the motion sensor at the far side of the room sprang to life. Raising the shotgun to chest height and resting his finger on the trigger he walked forward, triggering the sensor nearest him, the camera recording his movements as he went. There was definitely something there, just in front of him. Not quite a figure but almost. He tried the only thing that he could think of to draw it out into the open.

"Pauline?"

There was a little waver in the ball of life, a reaction to the name, which told him that his theory of who this blob might have been was probably right on the money. He didn't need any help in registering the sharp drop in the temperature but the little monitor, attached to the camera warned him all the same. Dean stepped forward one more step.

"Pauline Woods?" His voice was low, almost reverential as he spoke her name.

The blob materialised into a figure, too quickly he was thrown across the room, the shot from the gun caused only by the instinctive tightening of his fingers. It blasted wide before the weapon itself skittered from his hand as he impacted with the wall. She was on him, her icy fingers tight on his neck. "Who are you?"

"I'm…here….to ..help." He struggled to speak, his hand groping out to the side of his pinned body, looking for the shotgun. "Can't…breathe….please."

The room started to grow colder and darker and he wasn't sure if she was causing it or if it was the lack of oxygen to his brain that was screwing with his system.

She brought her face right in his; a cool. questioning smile on it. "Get them out of here….or they are all dead. It will kill them all….it will kill you."

Dean really wanted to find out what the heck she was talking about but the lack of air was becoming a more than serious problem and his fingers had found the butt of the shotgun.

He started to cough in great lumps of breath the instant the rock salt did it's job. Finally getting it under control he reload the gun and then tried to stand. His leg had other ideas though and he found that for the moment he couldn't get them to lift his ass off the ground.

Checking the shotgun again he leant back against the wall and waited for what came first; either his legs coming online or the spirit coming back for round two.


	5. Chapter 5

Day Four, Part Two

"Sonuvabitch." He rolled and was almost on his knees when the motion sensor blipped. Knowing that he wouldn't gain his feet before the ghost reached him he dropped again and brought the shotgun up just as she materialised in front of him.

She stood there.

Not moving.

Just staring.

Then he realised.

She was afraid of the shotgun.

Debating quickly with himself, he raised the gun slightly then lowered the weapon and rested it on the floor, still gripping the handle and the trigger in case things turned ugly. "Pauline, I won't hurt you. I want to help you. Can you tell me how to help you?"

Her movement was slow this time, hesitant and she still eyed the gun warily as she approached.

"Why are you still here? Did someone hurt you? Did they leave you here?" She turned her head at that and looked at the wall behind her, then she turned back and seemed instantly to be kneeling beside him, fingers gripping his wrist tightly until he had to relinquish his hold on the shotgun.

"I was only trying to make them see. Let them know that it was coming. They left me here. Why would they do that?"

"I don't know Pauline. Who left you here? Maybe I can find then and ask them." He shivered involuntarily at her closeness. "What happened to you Pauline? Do you know?" He kept his voice low and as friendly as he could with the pain that her squeezing the life out of his hand was causing to run through him.

"They left me here? Why would they do that?" Her icy fingers touched his face and he wanted to pull back but the wall behind him held him in place. At least this time her touch was gentle, if chilling.

"Pauline?" Dean realised that there was something wrong with her, something off in her manner and her voice. Simple was the word that worked it's way into his thoughts. She turned to him, cocked her head. "What happened to you?" He felt her grip on his wrist ease slightly as they continued to speak.

Instead of answering, she looked up, hearing something that he couldn't. Panic was on her face when she turned back to him. "You have to get them out of here. It's going to kill them. It's coming." The lights flared and then a socket not far from where he sat exploded in a little ball of flame as her fear screwed the electrics around them. The camera, sensors and lights all went off.

"Pauline what is it? What's coming?"

The torchlight was blinding as the door to the floor swung opened and Jim's voice sounded out across the void. "Dean? Dean?" The light settled on him, shining right through her.

She locked eyes with him. "Save them."

Then she was gone.

"Damn it to hell Jim." Dean scowled angrily up at the older guard. "She was talking to me, you scared her off!"

"Your welcome for my help in rescuing your ass from what I thought was some kinda of attack."

Jim held out his hand and Dean took it, hauling himself up. "Sorry." Dean deflated, realising what it would have looked like to Jim, with him down against the wall and her over him. "She flattened me the first time but the second time there she was trying to tell me something. Your timing was lousy."

"So that was a ghost? And it's definitely Pauline then?" Jim lowered his head and shook it slowly. "That sucks. She was a nice lady, only one of all of them that even acknowledge my guys when they let them in. Rest of them were too good to talk to us lowly guards types, you know the kind….judge you on sight."

"Oh, I know the kind, believe me. You saw the ghost? That was Pauline?" Dean didn't really have any doubts but a confirmation wouldn't hurt either.

Jim nodded. "That was her."

"Damn. What the hell happened to her? Why is she stuck her and who or what the hell is 'it'?" Dean rested his head against the wall and steadied his world for a moment.

"Isn't that what I've got you here for? Aren't you supposed to be supplying the answers to the questions? Not giving me more?" Jim chuckled softly.

"Did they like, teach a course in sarcasm in your school? With you and Bobby the star pupils?"

Jim smiled at that. "Sometimes I think Bobby invented sarcasm."

Dean dusted himself off and pushed off the wall. "Well he is old enough. I need to go back downstairs, I want a look at the floor plans again."

"Just let me check the breakers on this floor and I'll be right with you."

Dean stood and watched as Jim walked to the electricity box, the shotgun resting but ready. Last thing he needed was to explain to Bobby how his friend ended up fried on his watch. "Be careful. If the temperature drops, you step back right away."

Jim nodded and went to work. After a series of button pushes the lights slowly started to flicker back on in blocks, working their way towards then. Once the whole floor was lit Jim signalled to Dean to follow him and they headed back down to Bobby.

---

"What the heck happened to you?" The elder hunter watched as Dean limped into the room and eased himself down in to the chair opposite.

"Pauline dropped in to say hi. I hurt my back a little is all." Reaching across Dean started to drag the rest of the paperwork from the box in front of Bobby before realising that he'd left the floor plans on the wall in the motel. He looked up at Jim. "You got copies of the new floor plans for this place, I've left the ones that you gave me behind?"

"Yeah." Jim walked over to the file cabinets that lined one wall of his room and rummaged for a minute or two before he pulled what he was looking for free. "Why? What's up?"

Bobby was looking at him with raised eyebrows too.

"Nothing I just want to check something is all." He stood and pushed the chair back. "You find anything useful in that?" He addressed Bobby and waved at the papers his friend had scattered across the desk.

"Nothing much. There seems to have been a revision of the work that was to be done after Pauline came on board, but I don't know if she found something she didn't like or she just suggested a better way to do things. Maybe someone didn't like the new girl getting the plaudits for their work?"

"Wouldn't be the first time." Looking over the plans, a little scowl playing over his face. "I think they might have dumped her here." He looked up at Jim. "When was the construction finished on the fifth floor? Before or after Pauline went AWOL?"

Jim brushed his hand on his chin for a spell, obviously trying to think back. "They finished it off either the day or the day after."

"I'm going back out…."

Bobby interrupted. "You ain't going back up there yourself."

"I'm not. I want to look at something on the two floors below. Jim, are all the floors laid out the same?" Dean started to fold the floor plan up again.

"Should be. What is it?"

Dean smiled at him. "Once I know myself I'll tell you. Something isn't sitting right up here," Dean raised his hand to his head. "I just need to sort out what it is." Bobby went to stand but Dean stopped him with a hand. "You stay here, I'll come back for you."

"Dean…" The worry was clear on his friend's face.

"I'll be on the floors that there are other people on, it'll be fine."

"I've heard that before." Bobby got upright this time but Dean placed his hand on the older man's chest.

"Look, I know that you're worried, and you're right to be. I promise that this is just a look see on the floors that are occupied. I won't touch any switch or anything to do with the AC system. I really don't intend to get flattened again today or electrocuted. I will be fine." He turned to Jim. "You got security cameras on the parking levels?"

"Just on the entrance and exit, the other are off because they're rerouting the cables for the refurbishment that's due to start next year."

"Damn. Bobby can you look through the night that Pauline disappeared, see if you can see her car leaving."

Jim touched his arm and Dean turned to him. "Can save you the bother there. Her car left at 7.30 that night. The cops already checked that."

"Did they check that it was her driving?" Dean looked quizzically at the other man.

"I think so, I don't really know."

Bobby lift his cap and gave his head a little scratch. "Well, we'll look again anyway. Do you really think that the people that she worked with did her in here and then hid the body?"

Dean shrugged. "Think so. I just wanna check something. I won't be long." With that he headed off out.

"You really think that we've got a dead body somewhere in the building?" Jim shivered as he spoke.

"It kinda looks that way. Now where do you keep those tapes?"

Jim signalled to the room next door.

"Ok." Bobby pushed back the chair and got up. "You get the tapes and the equipment rolling and I'll get the coffee."

He had just poured out the second cup when his phone rang. He checked his caller ID expecting it to be Dean but frowned as he saw the name on the screen. Somehow he didn't think this was going to go well.

---

John Winchester scowled at the phone in his hand, as he ended the call and dialled Bobby's number. The other hunter's voice raised his irk status to red. "Well look what the cat coughed up. So you do know how to use the phone, I was beginning to wonder if you'd lost the ability, then again I'm not sure that it should be me that you're calling!"

John bristled. "Stow it Singer. If you want me to speak to him so badly, it works better if you make sure that he answers his damned phone. What's up anyhow? Is he hurt?"

"You left him on his ass, pissed off without even a goodbye and you have to ask if he's _hurt_? The boy is only just hanging in there John. He needs his family. _He needs you_." Bobby could feel the familiar anger bubble through him.

"That's not what I meant and you know it, besides, who do you think you are? You always did stuck your nose into my family's business. I swear if you've got my boy into trouble then that's what you'll get….trouble with a capital W. I didn't leave him behind just for you to go get him hurt helping you in whatever damned fool's errand that you're running this time."

"Oh he was hurting before I even got to him. He's been drinking, not eating, going on jobs without any sleep. If I hadn't got to him…..well I don't know what he would have done John, but I know that it wouldn't have been pretty." Bobby lowered his tone. "Boy's a mess John. I'm worried about him. I've got him interested in this job but after that who knows what he'll do or where he'll go. Don't you care what's happening with your own son. Wasn't losing Sam enough for you?"

"Sam left me Bobby."

"Remember how that felt John? Remember the nights that Dean and I tried to get you through it?" There was a silence. "Now you've gone and done the same to Dean, except he has no one to help him pick up the pieces. Can't you call him, ask him to come get you?"

"No." John's voice was cold. "Besides, he has you, Saint Bobby to help him. What the hell would he need with me?"

The call cut off and Bobby resisted the urge to throw his phone at the wall. "Dammit it to hell. Stubborn friggin' Winchesters!"

John's first words came back to him. - _it works better if you make sure that he answers his damned phone – _He called Dean's phone and swore when it went to voicemail. Stepping into the other office he caught Jim's attention. "Listen, Dean's not answering his phone, that's not like the boy, I'm just gonna go check on him. I won't be long."

"You want help?" Jim moved towards him but Bobby waved him off. "Nah, can you just start looking for her car on that tape. Like I said, I don't aim to be long, just wanna check that he's ok."

---

Bobby finally caught up with Dean on the fourth floor. His friend was pacing out a distance on the quiet part of the floor that contained the food court and the elder hunter couldn't quite contain his sigh of relief that Dean was unhurt. That didn't however convey into his voice as he walked up to him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Dean looked up into a pair of angry eyes with confusion in his own. "What?" He had no idea what he'd done to merit the attack he knew was coming his way.

"Why aren't you answering your damned phone? You gone deaf or somethin'?"

Dean rolled his eyes and held up his hand in an appeasing manner. "I left it in the car."

"YOU LEFT IT IN THE CAR!" People at the tables nearby turned and looked at the security guard behind them and the man that was shouting at him.

"Bobby!" Dean signalled him to lower his voice.

"What in the hell would possess you to leave your only means of contact with me behind in the car? _We're on a hunt_ and we're separated boy. What if that bitch had really hurt you and Jim hadn't come looking? You could have lain upstairs hurt for god's knows how long until I came checkin' on you! Where's your head at Dean?"

"You finished?" Dean crossed his arms and stared the older man down. "Firstly, my phone was just too much of a distraction ok? I know you see me checking it all the time. I thought that if I left it in the car then I wouldn't get distracted by it."

"Did that work?"

Dean sighed. "Not really."

"And if you'd have needed help in a hurry?" Bobby glared at him.

Dean smirked. "Well I have this little thing called a radio that Jim gave me, remember he gave you one too? If I'd of needed help I'd have used this." He waved the radio in Bobby's face.

"Fine. Well your Daddy called you and when he couldn't get you, I got him instead. Tell me again why you want to speak to him so badly. I love your father and I wouldn't rather have anyone than him at my back in a hunt," he nodded at Dean, "present company excluded. I swear that sometimes though, I'd like to kill him with my bare hands."

That made Dean laugh. "What did he say?"

"Basically that he's an ass and that I'm an interfering old git."

Dean nodded. "That sounds about right." He turned back to the plans in his hands. "I think I found something. I think I know what they did with Pauline's body."

"I'm all ears." Bobby moved round so that he could see the plans.

"Jim told me that all the floors are the same size. Well the fifth floor isn't. It's a good two maybe even three feet shorter than this one. When the ghost was talking to me she turned and looked at the wall behind her. That wall isn't on the rest of the floors, at least it isn't on these two anyway."

Bobby looked up. "So you think that they killed her and then walled her up?"

"That's exactly what I think they did." He paused. "I think it was a head injury that killed her."

"Why?"

Dean shrugged. "She seems kinda confused when I talked to her."

Bobby looked at his watch. "So I take it that you want to knock into the wall and see if we can't find an nice juicy decomp behind it?"

"We can wait until the place is starting to empty and then we can go up and see what we can find." Dean looked down as a small hand tugged at his trouser. There was a little girl standing there, looking up with tears in her eyes. He knelt down to her level.

"Are you a policeman?" Her little lips trembled as she spoke.

"Yeah. What's wrong sweetheart?" Dean took the little girl's hands and smile what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"I've lost my mo-mmy." The last word was almost a wail.

Dean brushed her hair back off her face with his hand. "Well we'll just have to find her for you, won't we? I'm Dean." He looked up at Bobby. "This is my friend Bobby. What's your name?"

"Lucy. Lucy Adams." She held out the stuffing, leaking bear that she was cuddling. "This is Sam."

Bobby snorted at the name and both Dean and the little girl glared at him. Dean stood and held out his hand.

"Let's see if we can't find your mom." He picked up the radio and dialled the number that Jim had given them. "Jim. It's Dean. Can you hear me?"

"I hear you? What's up? Did you get Bobby?"

"I got him. I've also got a little girl. Lucy Adams. Lost her mom somewhere in here. Can you put out an announcement for her. We're on the fourth floor, near the rear escalators."

"Will do." Ten minutes later, a very happy mother and child were reunited and Bobby and Dean were on their way down to the car for tools.

"You know maybe being a security guard is a better job than I thought." Dean spoke as he pulled his shirt off and grabbed a t-shirt from the back of Bobby's car.

"Just 'cos a hot single mommy gave you her number for her child actually finding you, that's changed your opinion has it?" Bobby shook his head.

Dean grinned. "Nah it's 'cos your right. My eye's do go with this uniform."

Bobby groaned and went back to routing around in the trunk.

Glancing round quickly, Dean dropped the trousers of the said uniform and quickly pulled his jeans on, got his boots and grabbed the duffle. "OK, let's do this."

Bobby's phone rang as they went to step in the lift. It was Jim. He had called the off duty guard that had been there the night Pauline vanished and they were across the road in the local coffee shop. "I'm on my break for the next half hour Bobby if you want to come talk to him."

Bobby relayed the details to Dean and he told him to go. "She isn't dangerous Bobby, she just wants to warn us about 'it' whatever 'it' is. I can do this myself. It shouldn't take long."

"I don't like leaving you boy, I've got a bad feeling about this job. There's more to it that just laying this ghost to rest now. It was suppose to just be a simple salt and burn. Now….well now….I don't really like where it's heading. I mean if these guys killed her, what's to stop them coming after us?"

"They don't even know we're here Bobby. We're just extra security as far as everyone else is concerned. Go, find out what he knows. It'll take you what….twenty…..thirty minutes at most. By that time I'll have the wall down far enough for us to know what we're dealing with."

"Fine. Be careful." Bobby hesitated for a minute more before Dean waved him off and stepped into the lift.

It wasn't until Dean got to the top floor that he realised that he'd never checked his phone and that it was still in the glove box of the car.

* * *

Evil Cliff Note : Dean not having his phone, might just be the least of his worries! :) *chuckles and runs off*


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

So we wanted whump and to know how John and Sam were going to get involved in all of this. This is my fav chapter and yes, that should worry you!

*evil muse points down* First part of the reveal this way.......

Day 4/5 

Hamilton, Day 4, Early evening.

Dean took the small sledgehammer that he'd found in Bobby's trunk and started to tap slowly along the wall with it. Working his way in towards the middle his face lit with a smile when he struck a part that sounded hollow behind. Adjusting his grip on the hammer he took a full bodied swing at the wall and watched as the plaster cracked under the impact. Another hard, well placed swing and parts of it fell off completely. Several more hits and he'd managed to push a hole straight through the drywall behind.

He worked for the next ten minutes or so until he'd finally managed to clear a hole big enough to stick his head and shoulders through. Grabbing the torch from one of the duffles that he had lying he took it and shone it inside. There was the usual debris, shoved behind the wall where it would never see the light of day again; odd rolls of material, bricks, broken ceiling panels.

Then he saw it.

Sitting in the corner near the outside wall was a metal lock box, the kind that you'd use outdoor to store tools and stuff in. It probably wouldn't really had registered high on his interest list except for one thing. It had a padlock on it. A locked padlock.

"Ok, so why would you lock the box if you were just gonna leave it in behind the wall anyway?" He wiped the sweat from his brow and pulled his head back out, coughing a little at the dust that he had stirred up. "Pauline if you're here, now would be a good time to come calling. Is this where you are? Are you in the box?" The silence hung heavy around him until he coughed again. "Got some of this crap stuck in my throat." Another cough wracked through him. He patted the wall and turned away, dropping the hammer as he did. "I'll be back in a minute, don't go anywhere now."

He walked down the stairs to the food court and along to the little shop at the end. The counter girl gave him a winning smile and at any other time he would have taken her up on that smile but just now he just wanted to get back upstairs and get finished.

Still he gave her a smile in return. "Hey, can I get a couple of your big bottles of water?"

"Sure." He admired the view as she turned to get them from the chiller cabinet behind her, looking away before she turned and caught him. His eyes fell on the pre-packed sandwiches and the candy. Grabbing a couple of packs of the sandwiches and a large bag of M&Ms he put them on the counter and reached for his wallet in his back pocket.

"The peanut ones are my favourite too." There was that smile again.

"Only ones to have." He put the money on the counter and she rang it up, gave him his change and bagged his stuff for him. He smiled again at the little brush of his hand that she managed. "It's been nice meeting you….Anna. I might see you around again." He told himself that it really was her nametag that he'd been staring at.

"I hope so. This shop needs all the nice scenery that it can get. Bye then." She turned to the other guy that had walked in and Dean liked the fact that the smile he got wasn't half as bright as the one that had greeted him. He let out a little laugh at that. "Bye."

He was still shaking his head when he stepped out onto the fifth floor and put his bag of stuff down on top of the duffle. Taking one of the bottles he took a deep drink and then threw it back on top of the bag.

It was then that he noticed that the room had started to cool.

"Pauline?" He jumped at the sound of her voice in his ear.

"What are you doing?" Walking past him she ran her hands round the hole in the wall.

He didn't know how much he should tell her, how much she already knew and what her reaction to all this would be so he turned the question back on her. "What do you think I'm doing?"

She didn't answer, she just walked through the wall.

"Show off. How much easier would that be?" He picked up the sledgehammer and this time launched an all out attack on the wall in front of him, not stopping until he'd got a big enough gap to get through. He could see her now, waiting for him, next to the box.

Fetching the crowbar from the duffle he climbed through and walked over to stand beside her. "I didn't mean to hurt those people, but they wouldn't listen." She turned to him. "It isn't safe here. You have to leave, before….." Her voice tailed off as she turned to look at the box at their feet. "I'm I really in there?," she asked as she lifted her hand to her head.

Dean knelt down and jammed the crowbar in the padlock. "I think so." He turned to her. "You ready for this?"

She wasn't watching him, she was looking up with a concerned look on her face.

"Pauline?" Dean realised that he'd lost her attention for the moment, and he wondered again just how they'd killed her. "Get my answer soon enough." Prising open the box he hesitated before opening it, steeling himself for what might be inside.

Then he pulled open the lid.

The decomp smell made him choke and then gag and he fought not to throw up as he looked at her remains. She was face up, gagged and her hands were tied in front of her. There was blood in what was left of her hair which lent credence to his theory of a head injury but he wasn't touching her to find out if there was a wound mark on the back of her head.

Even he had his limits.

"I could hear them." He jumped again, almost having forgotten that she was standing there.

"Please stop doing that. What do you mean you could hear them?" A horrid thought hit him and he looked down at her hands again, this time taking in the bloody fingers. "Oh no. Tell me you didn't?" Reaching over he lifted the lid back up from it's resting place. This time he couldn't stop himself. Getting to his feet he crossed the void and threw up what little he had actually eaten that day.

"Did they think I was dead? Is that why they locked me in?" She just stood there examining her own remains and Dean's shivers had nothing to do with her presence. Getting his breathing under control enough to answer her he walked over to stand beside her.

"I think so. You weren't, were you?" He knew the answer to that already, the bloody trail marks on the lid were a testimony to that.

"I could hear them. Why couldn't they hear me?" She touched his face and it took all his willpower not to recoil from her icy fingers on his face. "Why did they do this to me? I was only trying to warn them."

"Warn them about what?" Dean looked up into her face, wishing that she would move her hand from his.

"That it's coming." With that she vanished.

"Friggin' ghosts! Pauline! I need to know what 'it' is!" He walked round the back of the box and kicked the lid back over her then grabbed his tools and headed back out. He needed to tell Jim and Bobby what he'd found and stow the bags out of sight. Gathering his stuff he headed for the lift.

She appeared in front of him, fear in her eyes as she looked at him. "Please don't leave here. I don't want to be alone." One bank of the lights flickered and died as she spiked the electrics once again.

Dean kept the little bit of panic that he was feeling out of his voice. "I'm going to get you help. I going to get you out of here, but I need my friends to help me. I'll come back for you. I promise."

The lights on the floor flickered and dimmed and then she smiled at him. "You're going to help me?"

"Yes. I'm going to get help."

She moved right into his space. "Better hurry then."

Then Dean was standing on his own again.

"I have to hurry? You know you're dead right?" Getting in the elevator he pushed for the carpark and breathed a sigh of relief for once to be in the box and moving away from the rather spaced out ghost on the fifth floor.

Reaching the car he frowned. There was a car almost parked in the driver's door. "Sonuvabitch! Parking is such a skill that so few people seem to have! How the hell did they expect anyone to get in there?" He muttered to himself as he went to the passenger side. The car on this side was also badly parked but this one was to his favour, it was half in the space next to his and half in the next one again. "So glad we didn't bring my car." He flung the bags down at the back wheel of the car, retrieved his phone from the glove box and called Bobby.

---

"As far as I can tell that's what they were talking about when I walked in on them but they clammed up real quick like when they saw me there." Brian Cafferty was sitting across from Bobby and Jim in the little coffee house on the corner opposite the shopping mall.

"So they were discussing the fire shutters for the escalators and they stopped when you walked in?" Bobby took a slip of his coffee and made some notes. "Did you hear what the problem was?"

"Lady wasn't happy about the positioning but I couldn't hear all that she was saying, there was this guy that was shouting over her, telling her that she was wrong."

Bobby looked at Jim. "So we have someone who's not Pauline driving her car outta the building and a guy shouting at her on the top floor just hours before she goes missing. It's not looking good here. You're sure that wasn't her in the car?"

Jim nodded. "Positive. You couldn't see the face but it was a woman. Small hands." He waved his own at Bobby for effect. "Pauline always wore this ring on her hand, I noticed when she was signing in one day and made a comment. She told me it was her mother's engagement ring and that she never took it off. It was a really big rock. It wasn't on the hand of the person driving the car."

"Yeah I saw that ring. Really unusual black stone in it?" Brian offered his observation into the conversation.

"That's it. She wore it on her right hand."

Brian nodded. "I never saw her without that ring and I work the back security entrance mostly, that's were all the contractors and the architects have to come in by."

Bobby was taking more notes when his phone started ringing and he excused himself from the conversation to answered it. "Hey kid. Well?"

Dean's voice sounded a little shaky. "She's here Bobby and it ain't pretty. She's in a tool store, lock box thing behind a wall on five. Definitely a head injury. I think they knocked her unconscious, thought she was dead and dumped her. At least I hope that's what they did 'cos if it wasn't, and they did this on purpose, we are dealing with some nasty, nasty sons of bitches."

Bobby ran his free hand over the skip of his cap. "They thought she was dead? How do you know she wasn't, wait….do I want to know?"

Dean rubbed absently at his forehead as he spoke. "Bloody scratch marks on the inside of the lid. I don't know if it was the head injury or the lack of air but I think that she's dropped a few dimes too since she was alive. She doesn't seem to be quite all there."

"You saw her again? Were are you now?"

"Yeah, she was with me when I opened the box. I'm in the parking level now though.." His phone started to crackle and when he checked he noticed that it had dropped a few bars. "Bobby can you still hear me?"

"Dean? You there?" The call dropped and he tried to redial but it wouldn't connect.

Then the lights started to flicker and the temperature plummeted.

Pauline was there in front of Dean suddenly, her fingers gripping his arms tight enough to cause him pain and bruise him. "Pauline, that hurts. Let go, please?"

Her eyes where wild when he looked into them. "It's here! It's here!" She let go and waved her hands at him frantically. "You have to get them out! You have to! Now! Get them all out now!"

Dean turned. The box for the fire system was on the opposite wall from where the car was parked.

"Please get them out!"

Something in her tone made him move. He turned and headed to the little red square on the wall. The mall would be nearly empty by now, mainly only the shop workers left and the odd last minute shoppers. Setting off the alarm wouldn't cause a major panic and he'd deal with Bobby and Jim's fallout if he had too. If whatever it was that was frightening a ghost this much was here, in this building, Dean wanted the civilians out just as much as she seemed to.

He pressed the Perspex cover and set off the alarm.

Pauline's grip cut into the feeling in his arm again. "It's too late! It's too late!" She pulled at her hair with her free hand her fear beginning to infect him slightly. "I warned them! Why didn't they listen?" She was dragging him now towards the car. "You have to go! You have to get out!"

They both stopped as they heard it and Dean suddenly realised what she had meant. He knew it was too late, she was right, it was here and he had nowhere to run.

Instead he did the only thing that he could, he dove down between the cars, rolling until he was as close to Bobby's wheel as he could get, and curled himself up.

Pauline's wail was the last thing that he heard as the lights went out and it came for him.

---

Palo Alto, Day 4, Sam 

Sam played with the phone in his hand. He had been thinking about Dean since the drunk dial last week and now he had an apology on his voicemail and a missed call from Bobby. Put that all together and something was going on with his brother.

"What's up?" Jessica slipped her arms round his neck and kissed the top of his head. "You're supposed to be studying and I'm sure your test isn't on the features of your cell." She sat down. "Is this about the calls from your brother? Why don't you just call him back? Either speak to him or tell him not to call again but do something Sammy."

He looked at her as she called him Sammy, the word conjuring up images of his big brother, laughing and joking with him over his hate of the pet name. Dean would laugh if he knew that was what Sam's girlfriend called him, and especially if he knew when she usually call him that. The thought made him smile. "I've got the test tomorrow, I'll get that out of the way and then I'll call him, see what he wants." It crossed his mind that if he did call Dean back and spoke to him that it would be the first time in over three months that he'd have heard his brother's voice on anything but his voicemail. All the calls that he'd never returned. He tried not to think about what that said about him.

"Fine." Jessica pulled the phone from his hand, switched it off and threw it in his bag. "No more distractions then, at least not until later." She smiled promisingly.

"No more distractions." He kissed her and went back to the book he'd been reading.

---

A Motel Room, Day 4, Late Evening.

John was sitting in the motel room, watching the local news and cleaning the weapons up that he'd need for the hunt tonight. His phone was lying on the table beside him and he cursed Bobby as he found his mind straying from the hunt to his son.

He sighed and threw the shotgun on the bed, getting up and going to pour himself a coffee. It would be ok he decided, all he had to do was call Dean, see for himself how badly he was doing and then if necessary bring his son to him. Part of him couldn't help wondering if Bobby was exaggerating, he knew how damn close the man was to his son, how protective he was of Dean.

He was doing what was best. It was his family, not Bobby's. It wasn't that he did want to speak to his son, he was just busy. The leads on the demon where coming together and for the first time he could feel it, he was within touching distance of the damn thing and he wanted to take it down without having to worry about either of his boys getting in the way.

Hell, that was why he'd sent Dean away in the first place. To keep him safe. He realised that a little part of him had hoped that Dean would be forced to go to his brother, to seek out the one thing that meant more to the boy than anything in this world. The person that he had always turned to for comfort when he was feeling lost and alone, and John knew that Dean was feeling that way.

He knew because he was feeling that way too.

He had just sat back down at the table when the phone started to ring. Knowing it was Bobby from the ring tone he didn't answer it, not wanting to hear what the older hunter thought of him and his parenting skills. Waiting until the call went to voicemail he dialled up the service and listened to the message that had been left, his face growing black as he did.

He cut the call and dialled Dean's phone cursing again as it went straight to voicemail.

He stood then, coffee and the hunt both forgotten. Grabbing his jacket he shoved the phone in his pocket and fished his keys out. Not even bothering to stow away the weapons that he had lying around he marched out of the room and across to his truck. Easing her gently into the traffic, he headed for the highway.

He pulled the phone out once he was on it and moving and called Bobby back not letting the man speak. "I'm on my way. I'll be there in two hours."

He threw the phone into the holder on the dash and opened her up.

---

Day Five, Palo Alto, Morning

It was the test from Hell and Sam was wishing that he'd taken anything other than Law as he struggled to get his head in the question that he was supposed to be answering.

The loud squeak of the hinges on the lecture room door made all the heads come up and Sam watch as one of the woman from the office walked in and hurried over to Mr Albert, the teacher for this class.

Sam watched as the teacher's expression turned from one of annoyance at the interruption to concern as the woman whispered in his ear and shoved a piece of paper in his hand. He said something quietly to her and then Sam felt his heart hitch as his teacher's eye quickly scanned the room and rested on him.

"Mr Winchester? Can you come down and bring your stuff with you." He beckoned Sam down and the younger Winchester felt the room spin as he stood up and gathered his books, shoving them into his bag and making his way down the stairs to the front of the room.

"Sam, there's a phone call for you at the office. I believe that it's your father, some sort of family emergency? It sounds"….the teacher paused obviously trying to find the right phrase…."rather urgent."

Sam froze.

His dad had called the office of the University.

John had made first contact.

That could mean only one of two things. One was bad but the other…the other was unthinkable.

The woman from the office struggled to keep up with Sam's long legged stride as he resisted actually running down the corridor. He dug into his bag and dragged his phone out, switching it on as he walked. There was a ton of missed calls from Bobby and one from John. Sam shut his cell and walked into the office behind the clerk who motioned him to the phone on the desk, smile sympathetically at him and then disappeared.

He paused and found he didn't really want to take the call, didn't want to hear his dad's voice and it had nothing to do with the fight that they had had.

He knew there was only one reason that his dad would lower himself to talk to him ever again.

_Please god don't let him be… _

He reached out his hand and picked up the phone. "Hello?" His voice didn't sound like his, it was shaky, uneven.

"Sam?" It wasn't dad, it was Bobby.

"What the hell is going on?" Sam tried to block out how upset Bobby had sounded just saying that one word. "Bobby, I was told it was dad that was calling. What's up?"

"I wasn't sure they'd fetch you if it wasn't family. Sam, Dean and I are in Hamilton." The pause was too long. "There's….there's been an accident."

"An accident? Is it Dean? Is he ok?" Sam felt his throat constrict as he tried to fight down the panic at the elder hunter's words and the tone of Bobby's voice.

"Dean's missing Sam."

Sam could feel the bile rise in his throat. Bobby was fighting to keep his voice level, so missing meant something much worse that just his brother wandering off and not coming back, and he'd said accident? "Dean's missing? How long? Where?"

There was another long pause and the upset in Bobby's voice when he spoke again did nothing to calm Sam's nerves. "You're brother and I were working a case in a shopping mall."

The pause was so long this time that Sam called out. "Bobby? What the hell happened? Where is my brother?"

Bobby's voice broke as he spoke.

"It collapsed Sam. Dean was still inside."

**Chapter End Notes:**

Well the clue was in the title all along! *waves to Anne, your bad feeling about the carpark was almost spot on!*

Dean is in a tad of trouble and Sam and John are heading to Bobby. Still a case to solve and a brother to find and a very irate John to hold in check. Bobby might just have a lot on his plate.

And Pauline is still out and about somewhere as well!

Mary x


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Everyone is in this one. The timeline jumps a little in this but from the next chapter it will settle down as everyone gets to Hamilton and the search and the hunt continue.

Thanks for the reviews, will update my replies later tonight! Hugs Mary xx

Day Five

Day Five – Morning - Sam and Bobby's Conversation – Stanford University Office 

_The pause was so long this time that Sam called out. "Bobby? What the hell happened? Where is my brother?" _

_Bobby's voice broke as he spoke. _

_"It collapsed Sam. Dean was still inside." _

"No." Sam felt as if his world was crumbling. He turned and sat on the desk not sure that his legs would support him anymore. He tried to gather his thoughts as Bobby's voice sounded again.

"Sam you still there?"

"How long?" He wiped at the wetness on his cheeks.

"How long what? Since it crumbled? Touched down about fifteen hours ago. I waited a' for I called ya to see if he'd somehow got out, you know Dean, boy's got more lives than a cat, but I haven't heard anything Sam. I called your Daddy right around the time I started calling you. He's here already, helping with the rescue, more use that what I'd be, what with him being an ex-marine and all."

_This is bad, this is really bad and I had my frigging phone off!_ Sam pushed the thoughts away, tried to focus on the questions he had. "Do you think there's a chance that he survived it? That he's trapped?"

Bobby's voice had a choked sound to it when he spoke. "I hope to God there is Sam, but the whole thing went down apart from the end towers. I've tried his cell but it's just going to voicemail."

"Probably no signal." Sam prayed that there was no signal because Dean not answering his phone was a bad sign.

"Yeah Sam, that's what I'm hoping too." Bobby continued on "There's a rescue effort underway already, as I said John's gone to see if he can help dig, and I know where Dean was when it went down."

"Where?" Sam's head was already trying to calculate where the best place for his brother to have been in a collapse was.

"He was in the parking level, we'd been talkin' on the phone just before the shit hit the fan."

Sam groaned. Of all the places he had been thinking of, at the bottom of the pile wasn't one of them. He realised that Bobby was still talking.

"Someone pulled the fire alarm down there just about three minutes before the whole place came down. I think it was Dean. He got a lot of people out before the collapse."

Sam snorted at that. "Just not himself."

"No. Just not himself, I'm sorry Sam."

Sam closed his eyes and brought his hand to his face to stifle the sob that he couldn't hold back. "I'm coming to help. I can help the rescue teams dig or maybe help you try and find out why the thing collapsed."

"Ok son. I have to be honest though kid……it doesn't look good at the moment." There was a touch of resignation in Bobby's tone this time that fired Sam's anger.

"My brother is not dead Bobby. I won't let him be dead, do you hear me?" He wiped fiercely at the tears that now ran freely down his face.

"I hear ya Sam." Bobby didn't sound convinced though. He gave Sam the name and number of the motel he was at and then they hung up.

Sam exited the office without speaking to anyone. Walking outside, he took a look around and spotted an older car with an open window. Without another thought he reached in, opened the door and got in. Then, following the procedure that he'd learnt a long time ago from his brother he hotwired the car and headed out.

He didn't care about anything else at the moment other than his brother was in trouble.

Nothing else mattered just now but getting to Dean.

---

Previous Day – Bobby – The collapse.

Bobby had been in the coffee shop, phone still in hand from the call that had dropped, as the building had started to collapse. There had been three almighty bangs which had drawn everyone's attention to the edifice across the road and then screams filled the air as the building had slid slowly and gracefully to the ground.

Bobby, Brian and Jim had been lucky, they had been sitting in the corner of the coffee shop nearest the restrooms and Bobby's hunter instincts had kicked in even as the building touched ground. The collapse of the building across the road shot debris at the plate glass window out front, shattering it into hundreds of little shards of glass that covered all the patrons sitting next to it.

The trio were no longer part of that though.

The elder hunter had moved quickly, pocketing the phone and pulling the other two men from the table and into the restrooms that they were sitting in front of, throwing them up against the wall inside. He'd forced the door closed and strode to the sinks, filled one with water and soaked the paper towels in them just as the dust found it's way through the cracks between the door and it's frame. Bobby'd covered his mouth and nose and handed them some to do the same, trying to keep as much of the dust and crap in the air out of his lungs as he could. Then he'd sat down beside Jim as the lights above them flickered and went out. They'd sat there for what seemed like an eternity and then the emergency lights had kicked in, illuminating the bathroom and the swirling dust clouds in an otherworldly green glow.

As soon as he could see Bobby had pulled his phone from his pocket and punched Dean's number. Brian and Jim had cringed at the elder hunter's howl of grief as it failed to connect.

---

Previous Day – Dean – The collapse 

They both stopped as they heard it, the three soft muffled bangs that sounded overhead and Dean suddenly reckoned he knew what she had meant by it. 'It' was the building and by the sounds of things she was right. It was coming for him and it was coming fast.

The next sound he heard sounded like a train in a tunnel rushing towards him with a whoosh of air. This train though wasn't actually coming towards him, it was coming down on top of him. He knew it was too late then, he had nowhere to run.

His gut instinct told him to run anyway and so he did as it wanted, sprinting for the line of cars only vaguely aware of Pauline still standing there, looking up. He knew the exit was too far behind him, the same instinct that had had him running, telling him that he didn't have time to reach his only means of escape.

Instead he did the only thing that he could, he dove down between the cars, rolling until he was as close to Bobby's wheel as he could get, and curled himself up. The world around him collapsed in a cloud of dust and debris, and the choking smoke filled his lungs as he struggled to catch a breath, covering his mouth with his arm to try and stop the inward rush of the muck in the air into his lungs.

Then there was a sharp pain, something connected with his head and his world went black.

---

Previous Day - Dean - Several hours later

Dean opened his eyes and blinked to make sure that he had managed the simple act because even with his eyes open the darkness around him was complete. There were small flakes of dust falling on his face as the building groaned and settled around him. The sounds made his nerves jangle as he waited for the one that would tell him the rest of the mall was on it's way down and he would just cease to exist, that life would just be pancaked out of him. He breathed again when he realised that it wasn't going to happen…at least it wasn't going to happen yet.

He had no idea how long he had been out for or exactly what had happened. The building he knew had collapsed but he didn't know if it was only the part he was in or if the whole damn lot had fell and was now perched on the slab of concrete that he knew had to be jammed somewhere above his head.

He did some quick personal damage assessment. He could feel pain radiating up his right leg and quickly decided he'd leave that, the fun part, to last. Starting with his fingers he flexed the extremities and was glad when they all responded and there was no accompanying pain. Next he bent his elbows and checked them off his list of body parts that he still had and that were still working. Gingerly he raised his hands to his head and felt the dampness as his left hand brushed the top of his hairline. He tasted the liquid that had gathered on his fingers, the coppery taste confirming that something had collided with his head. He carefully worked his fingers along the cut, thanking god when he realised that although it was long, it was shallow and no longer bleeding.

Finally, he checked his legs.

His left leg was fine, he had managed somehow to get it up and tucked in out of the road but his right was pinned roughly from about mid shin down and he knew from experience that either, or both, his shin and his ankle were broken. Dean decided for the moment ignorance would be bliss and to leave it alone until he checked just how bad his situation was.

His next task that he set himself was to check the area around him. Dean brought his hands to chest level before pushing up through the black void that surrounded him. A groan escaped him as he hit concrete before he could fully straighten his arms. The cars had stopped the downwards motion of the ceiling above him less than a few feet short of crushing him completely. Dean thought he'd wait to decided if that had been a good thing or not. "Great, just great." Stealing himself, he gently stretched his arms out to the side and was heartened by the fact that only one hand touched the side before it was fully straightened, his left hand brushing the metal side of what had been Bobby's car. He patted the metal and gave a little smirk. "Good call Bobby, not to bring mine." Carefully so as not to jar his leg, he slowly lent the other way until his hand hit the solid mass of the other vehicle.

"Ok, only two more ways to check here Dean." Raising his arms this time he slid them up and back beyond his head and gasped as they almost immediately touched concrete, less than an arm's length over where his head was lying. "Shit, just as well I ain't as tall as you Sammy eh? Damn thing would have taken my head clean off my shoulders…guess size does matter after all." He chuckled softly at his little joke, trying to lift his spirits and stop the panic that he could feel waiting for it's turn to find a voice. He couldn't move down the way because of his leg but he was pretty sure that his new world ended just short of the tail end of both cars. He groped for the duffles that he knew were sitting somewhere behind him and plucked the flashlight from one, relishing the comfort that the small beam of light brought as it pushed back the darkness. Shining it down he realised that there was something metal over his leg. He wasn't sure if it was a beam or a light fitting, probably the latter as the pain level screamed broken not crushed at him.

Luck it would appear was on his side for once, he mused wryly….if you could call it lucky to be stuck under what potentially could be five floors of shopping mall with a broken leg.

He wiped his hand over his face. "So, I've got a crawl space here that's a little bigger than a concrete coffin. Peachy." He looked skywards and swallowed hard, the action hurting his dry throat. "Bobby? Please be looking for me, please don't be under here somewhere as well." He laid his head back gently and concentrated on keeping his breathing calm whilst he tried to figure out how the hell he was going to get out of this one.

---

Day Five – Early Morning – John's arrival 

John flashed his US Marshall's badge at the guy at the roadblock.

"You'll need to park in one of the side streets and walk in I'm afraid. We're keeping this way clear for emergency vehicles and they got some heavy equipment on its way in as well." The young soldier pointed to a street off to the side. "If you go down there you should find somewhere to stow her for now."

John waved in acknowledgement and eased the big truck down the narrow street and into a free space at the kerb. Checking that he had his gun, he pulled his phone out and called Bobby. "I'm here, where are you?"

"Just follow the arc lights, I'm right in the middle of where they are."

Walking down to where he could see the glow of the lights John steadied himself for seeing Bobby, trying to remind himself that this was not the older hunter's fault. That he had just been trying to look out for Dean.

His good intentions went out the window though as he turned the corner and took in the scene of devastation before him.

The other hunter was off a little to his right talking to a man that appeared to be some kind of security officer. Both men's shirts were dark with sweat and Bobby was tending to the other man's hands as he spoke to him. It was obvious that they had been helping with the rescue effort. As if sensing John's presence Bobby looked up and started over to him.

The bile and the anger rose in John's throat as he stood and looked at the crumpled heap of masonry that had once been a building, a heap of masonry that his son was now buried under somewhere.

"What the hell happened Bobby? Why was he in there on his own?" The voice was accusing in its tone, not quite an all out attack but it was getting there.

"It fell down John, what does it look like happened!" Bobby screamed the words at him. "One minute it was standing there and the next….." The elder hunter wiped at his face, his distress clear. "Dean told me to go. He was just looking for the remains of the ghost that we'd been dealing with and I had another lead to follow. He'd found her and called me from the parking level when it….it just went." John turned as Bobby took his cap off and wiped at his forehead with it. "This wasn't meant to happen. If I'd thought for one damn minute that there was any chance of him gettin' hurt……of this happenin'." He waved his hand at the sight in front of him. "I should never have left him." The older hunter turned his back on John at that.

John stepped towards him and put his hand on his friend's shoulder, calmed slightly by the pain and emotion behind Bobby's outburst. "Then you'd have just been in there with him Bobby. Instead, I've got you out here to help figure it out while I help dig to find my boy."

Bobby turned, shaking his head, his eyes burning with tears. "Oh no. I ain't leaving. I'm gonna help here…for as long as they need or as long as it takes to find him. I'm gonna dig until my hands bleed and then…..I'm gonna dig s'more!"

John sighed and tightened his grip. "There are a ton of folk here digging Bobby but so far as I can see there isn't anyone looking to see why this happened yet. If we can get the jump on them, we can get the information that we need to find out what happened here, why this damn thing fell down in the first place. I want answers Bobby."

"How will that be me helping Dean?" Bobby crossed his arms in front of him.

"It means we can tell why he got buried under here when we pull him out." John wished he felt as sure as he sounded when he made that statement. "He's going to want to know why and how Bobby and if we can't tell him then he'll just go hunt down the answers himself. So it'll help, believe me." He turned back to look fully at the building. "What are your thoughts so far. Bomb or something more supernatural?"

"I did hear a coupla loud bangs but I've been around explosives long enough to know that ain't what they were. Something about the way it fell, and then there was the ghost we were hunting. She was scared of something, I think she knew that it was gonna come down. I just don't know how."

"Well…..that's what we're gonna find out." John studied the collapsed building again, looking at it for the possible voids that the collapse would have inevitably created. It heartened him to see more than a few places that could be harbouring survivors, not that any of them would have Dean in them, if he'd been down as far as Bobby had said. But still, hope shone in his heart for a moment that his son was alive somewhere in there and, knowing Dean, was probably as pissed off as hell.

---

Dean - Late Day Four/ Early Day Five

Dean took out his phone and moved it about to see if he could get a signal, knowing that it was a slim chance but still he had to try.

The radio that Jim had given him was in the back seat of the car that now lay crushed behind him and he cursed his own stupidity for not taking it with him on his second trip upstairs. Bobby was going to rip him a new one for that one.

Despite his best efforts, the cell stubbornly refused to register and that's when he had the idea that perhaps he was buried a little deeper than he had first hoped. He switched it off to conserve the battery and put it back in his jeans pocket.

Next he grabbed the duffle nearest him and pulled it round in front. It was the weapons duffle that Bobby had packed and the first thing that Dean pulled out was a small first aid kit. He smiled as he opened it and shone the flash light in, wondering briefly how someone as disorganised and untidy in life as the elder hunter was could pack so much stuff into such a small shape. Deciding he didn't care he said a little prayer of thanks to the man and laid the kit to the side.

There was the usual collection of weapons, the sawn-off with salt rounds in it, a little flask of holy water, spare rounds, a couple of handguns; nothing except the flask that he could really use. Opening the side pockets he pulled out a small bag. It contain a collection of batteries for cell phones and digging through Dean found two that would fit his own. "Great, plenty of juice for the damn thing and no signal to use it!" He emptied the batteries he couldn't use into the duffle and put the ones he would need next to the first aid kit. Resuming his check of the side pockets he found another smaller torch and another bag full of batteries for it. They joined his growing collection on the ground.

Finishing the search and finding nothing else useful he slide the bag to the other side of his little space and pulled his own round that he had used to load the tools into. Hope filled him as his hand closed round the bag from the shop. _How could he have forgotten that he'd bought food and more importantly water? _He smiled as the sandwiches, the candy and the two bottles of water joined the items set out in front of him. To that he added his jacket, his own flask of holy water, the small sledgehammer, a crow bar, an empty water bottle, a packet of gum, another torch, more batteries and a small notebook and pen that he kept in the side pocket.

He was alive, not too badly injured and he had enough food and water to last him a few days at least.

Maybe he mused, lady luck might keep smiling on him this time until he could be rescued.

All he could do was hope.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Hey

I know I promised a little of Pauline's back story but it not here, not yet. I will come to her soon. Just a few things I need to let you know first before Pauline's story gets going. Again a little of everyone here and a little new info as well. Enjoy.

Lots going on at the moment, nice things for a change, so updates might be a little slow, plus I'm still writing the end to this!

Day Five – Early Morning

James Daye was making breakfast when his phone rang. Pulling the frying pan to the side of the stove so that he could reach, he stretched over to lift the phone from the cradle on the wall. "Hello?" He hooked it under his chin and went back to his cooking waiting for the reply as he did.

There was a long paused that finally prompted him to repeat his greeting.

"Put on your TV and then get out." The call disconnected and he was left staring at the phone with a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. He stood there for several minutes before turning the gas off, hanging the handset back up, and picking up the TV remote in its place.

The TV on the corner of the breakfast bar flickered to life and he dropped the remote again at the sight of the carnage that greeted him on the screen. "No." He reached out to the images that were flashing before his eyes before he backed away, the hand now covering his mouth as he headed for, and then threw up in, the sink. His insides heaved again and again as the news report played in the background, recounting the incident in the news channel's usual sensationalist manner.

Finally the rolling sensation in his stomach stopped and he turned to watch the scene of devastation in Hamilton. The reporter's voice droned in his head. "No one yet knows the cause of the collapse which happened yesterday evening but unconfirmed reports have put the death toll at as high as seventy five. However, with at least eighty others believed to be still missing, we are expecting this figure to rise throughout the day. Now over to our correspondent, Julia Meyers, who is at the scene…..Julia….."

He tuned out the woman's voice before walking from the room, down the corridor outside, and into the master bedroom of his house. Going inside he slide opened the closet door and pulled the small case from the top shelf, placing it on the bed. Then, getting the key from the bedside table, he opened it and lifted the Smith & Wesson 4006 and the clip from its innards.

Stopping only to run his fingers over the picture of his wife and his daughter, James headed for the bathroom and climbed into the shower cubicle. Sliding the clip home he flipped the safety, tucked the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger.

---

Day Five – Sam – Late Afternoon 

Sam pulled the car he'd acquired into the parking lot of the motel. John's truck was parked in the space outside the room that Bobby had given him the number of, so he pulled round the back and abandoned the car in one of the spaces there. Taking a minute to gather and calm himself he snatched his bag from the passenger seat and headed round to the motel room door, raising his fist and knocking gently below the rusted number nine.

The door swung back to reveal the tired and haggard looking figure of Bobby Singer. Sam only had time to take in the red rims of the elder hunter's eyes and the black circles that surrounded them before he was hauled into a bear hug and then let go just as quickly. "Sam, it's good to see you boy. Come in." Bobby stepped back and Sam breathed a little easier when he saw that they were alone. "How's college kid?"

Dropping his bag and then himself on the end of the bed Sam smiled weakly. "Good, college is good. Where's Dad?"

"Still down there. He gave me his truck to get back up here, my car…..well my car's……" Bobby couldn't finish the sentence but Sam got where Bobby's car was. He watched as the older man turned and grabbed two beers from the fridge in the small kitchenette at the back of the room. "Drink?"

"Yeah. Thanks." They sat in silence for a bit, Sam tearing at the label on the bottle and both men knew that they were avoiding giving life to the elephant in the room. It was Sam that finally spoke. "Any news on Dean?" He knew that there wasn't, it would have been the first thing that Bobby would have told him, but still hope had to make him ask.

Bobby shook his head. "John called. They've pulled six people out alive so far, double that dead, that I know of." He paused not sure what to really say next. "Suppose that's a good sign, means at least it was survivable. If Dean got any sort of warning that it was coming down he'd have known to get down beside the cars, they'd have at least given him a little protection." Bobby didn't mention the fear that he had that Dean was near the fires that had started as a few of the cars gas tanks has exploded. Instead he turned and pointed to the plan on the wall. "Part of the parking level that I think Dean was in, is here." He stabbed at an area with his finger. "Unfortunately it's the lowest level."

Sam rolled his eyes. "That would be about right, Winchester luck and all that. Walking over he ran his hand over the plan, taking in the markings on it for the first time. "What are these?"

"Dean marked out the alterations to the mall on the old plan, he wanted to see what had been disturbed, to see what had caused the ghost, of course that was before we found out that she been dumped behind a wall on the top floor."

"So she was murdered?" Sam was still running his hand over the plan trying to see what his brother had been looking for.

"Looks that way." There was another uneasy silence and again it was Sam that broke it, finally raising the question that he really didn't want an answer to.

"So how bad is it? Can we go down for a bit? I'd really like to help." He sat down and fidgeted with the bracelet on his wrist as he watched Bobby switch the TV on.

"It's bad." Bobby hit the button and stood back to let Sam see.

---

Day Five – Dean 

Dean slowly tried to manoeuvre himself round, finally needing to get a better look at just how badly his leg was injured, not able to put the moment off any longer. The pain had dulled to a strong, toothache like feeling and he really didn't want to do anything that would aggravated his injury and flare the pain level unless he really had to.

That said, he really had to.

Dean knew he should see if he could get it out from under the metal, get to see if there were any wounds that would need to be cleaned. Shining the torch down he could see that the metal that was lying on his limb was caught at one end on the front of Bobby's car which is why he reckoned the leg was broken but not crushed with bearing the full weight of the light fitting. If he could find a way to lift the metal and slide his leg back, he'd get it free.

He hoped.

Placing the torch on the ground, he grabbed the sledgehammer and the crowbar, sliding the latter under the metal just next to his knee and the former halfway along it's length. Then, sitting up as far as he could he slowly brought his weight down on his end and watched as the metal rose just a little. "Ok Dean, no choice here dude. Need to get your leg out from under this." He counted to three and then using his free hand he tugged at his jeans, dragging his leg back a bit before having to drop the metal back in place as the pain spiked through him, ripping the scream from him. "Sonuvabitch." Dropping back to the ground he tried not to pass out but just to ride the wave of agony until it ebbed, fingernails embedded in his palms, his face screwed up and his breath hissing through his teeth as he did. It was only when his pain ridden mind remembered that there was no one here to see them that he let the tears come.

"Dean?" The cold hands touched his face and Pauline's concerned face drifted into his line of vision. "I heard you scream."

"Pa-uline." He'd almost forgotten about the ghost.

"Are you alright? Did they do this to you too?"

Yeah, he thought to himself, I think they might have. Whoever 'they' were. Then an idea occurred to him. "Pauline can you help me? My leg's stuck and I have to get it out."

"Can I help you?" She tilted her head to the side. "I told them, I warned them."

Dean sighed. It might be crazy ghost help but it was better than no help at all. He mustered up every bit of patience that he had. "I know Pauline and they didn't listen but we can't do anything about that just now and I need you to focus. My leg's hurt and I can't get it free. Can you get my leg free? Can you move the metal that's on it?"

She smiled at him. "If I concentrate I can pick things up. Touch things." She brushed her hand through his hair as if to prove the point. "What would you like me to do?"

The childlike tone in her voice this time made him sad and angry at the same time. This woman had been an architect and an engineer in life, now in death she was almost nothing but a lost and confused little girl. He wanted to meet the people that had done this to her and hurt them, badly. Moving his hand over hers he took it down from his face and held it. "I need you to move the metal Pauline, just a little so that I can slide my leg free. Please."

"Will it hurt you?"

"A bit, but I'll feel better when I can see what wrong with it." It was only half a lie he reckoned. He went to push the crowbar under the metal but she stopped him.

"I don't need that." Her image wavered as she slide her fingers forward, the hand that he had still touching her falling through her as it did. Pulling his hand back Dean watched confused as Pauline's own hands passed through the metal and then slide down, coming to rest on the concrete below it. "I found out it's how I can pick things up." Her image strengthened again and then she was lifting the metal up off his leg, not lifting it far but far enough. He was staring at her and it was only when she turned to him and spoke that he realised he should be pulling his leg free. "This is heavy."

"Shit, sorry." There wasn't that much room but he could still reach in two-handed this time and slide his leg all the way free.

Then there was one intense bolt of pain, he though he'd cried out again as he heard her call his name and then he blacked out.

---

Day Five – Sam – Late Afternoon 

Bobby watched Sam's jaw drop in horror from what he was seeing on the screen in front of him and thank the stars that the boy had followed his instructions and came here first.

It was a terrible enough sight to watch on the TV, knowing that someone that you cared about was under there somewhere but being at the actual site itself was worse. The feeling of helplessness that Bobby had felt there, at the scale of the disaster, was…..well he wasn't sure he really had a word for the way it had left him feeling. For the way that knowing Dean was under there had ripped at his insides.

"Which part is where Dean is?" Sam was looking between the plan on the wall and the mangled remains that they were showing to try and pinpoint where Dean might be. Bobby walked forward and waved his hand vaguely at the right side of the screen.

"He's in there somewhere."

"I gotta go. I can't just sit here. I have to see it for myself. See if I can help." Sam walked forward and snatched his Dad's keys for the truck watching as Bobby reached for his jacket. "You don't have to come with me."

"How'll you get in kid without a badge? They ain't letting civilians in anymore."

Sam stood for a moment. "I know how to get in."

"I'm still coming with you. I let your brother outta my sight for less than half an hour and look what happened. I ain't doing it again." He walked over to switch off the TV as the breaking news came on.

"…..in a further twist to today's events we have just received the news that James Daye, a high ranking official with the city planning authorities has been found dead at his home. Mr Daye, who lived in the Treewood area of the city, was heavily involved with the approvals for the work on the mall that collapsed yesterday evening and, we believe, the inspections that were carried out for the already completed works. Details are sketchy at the moment but HTM TV has learned from a source that Mr Daye is believed to have died from a single gun shot wound to the head. Police have refused to confirm or deny this information at this point citing that the investigation is ongoing. He was found by his wife of fifteen years earlier this afternoon and his death must surely now raise more questions on the reason for the collapse….."

Bobby killed the TV and looked at Sam. "And the plot thickens."

"I think we need to make a stop, but on the way back from the mall. You said the ghost was murdered? Do you think that somebody silenced the city planner guy?"

The elder hunter raised his eyes and tipped his head to the side. "I ain't ruling it out, either that or he popped himself outta guilt. I mean, this….," he waved his hand at the plans on the wall, "….was a big deal for this city, it wouldn't have been left to the office boy to oversee it."

"Let's go." Sam was out the door and heading for the truck leaving Bobby trailing in his wave.

The truck was already started as Bobby hopped in and Sam then back her out onto the road and, taking directions from the elder hunter, headed for the mall and his brother.

---

Day Five – John – Hamilton Mall 

He had stripped to just his jeans and his t-shirt and the sweat was still coursing down his back and neck. The hard hat that they had insisted on him wearing caused more sweat to course over his face, stinging his eyes and blurring his vision but he did even halt long enough to wipe at it. John Winchester was a man on a mission as he heaved huge boulders of concrete from the top of the pile of rubble and passed them down the human chain behind him.

"Hey John!" Frank, the guy that was next in line to him tapped him on the shoulder. "Time to take a break big guy, they're bringing in some other men for a few hours to let us rest up and get some food."

John ignored him and carefully pulled another large piece of concrete up.

"John!"

"I'm not tired, I'll work with the other guys, on you go. Here." John dumped the rubble into Frank's arms and turned back.

"Can't do it John, it's a health and safety thing, if we don't do as they say they're gonna kick us out of here." Frank shouted to the man standing down from him, handed off his burden and turned back to John, gripping his arm. "We've been at this for five hours solid John, I need a break, _you_ need a break."

"I need to get this crap off the people that are still stuck inside this place! They might not have the time it takes us to have a break!" He went to go back to work but Frank held his grip tight.

"John. They aren't stopping the rescue effort they're just giving _us_ a little break. People are coming in to take over from us. You need to eat, at least get a drink. I need to sit down before I fall down. Come on. Even if you just take fifteen minutes. You're no good to the people that are trapped if you collapse 'cos you didn't take a few minutes to rest."

"Fine. Fifteen minutes." John followed Frank down off the pile and out to a little rest spot that had been set up. A bottle of water and sandwiches were handed to him and then he walked over and sat down next to his new found friend. John opened the water and drank the lukewarm liquid down in one go trying not to think that Dean probably didn't have anything to drink at all.

Frank took a bite of the sandwich and grimaced. "This is awful."

John glared at him. "Stop your griping. The people under there don't have anything to eat."

"Sorry. I know that I shouldn't grumble. Human nature though, isn't it? You're kind of intense, anyone ever told you that?" Frank smiled at him.

"All the time." John took a few bites of his own sandwich and then stood. "Look I've got to make a call." He went to walk away but Frank stopped him.

"Need to go pee. I'll get you back on the site in ten."

John nodded and watched as the man walked away then the opened his phone and dialled Bobby. It was answered on the first ring with no pause for any niceties "Any news?"

"Nothing. Sam got to you yet?" John rubbed his hand over the day old stubble that was on his face.

"We're in the truck on our way to you now. John, we think that we might have a lead to follow as to what happened with the collapse."

"A lead?" John took another bite of the sandwich that he still held in his other hand and thought that maybe he had been a little harsh on Frank, it was edible, but only just.

"City planning guy either killed himself this am or someone did it for him. Sam and I are going to go have a look see after we stop by you first."

"Why not go now? Why waste time coming here?"

"Because, Sam wants to see you, to see if he can help. He might stay. I can manage some legwork on my own you know." John heard Bobby talking to Sam and then he came back on the phone. "We'll be there in fifteen minutes or so."

John hung up and then walked back over to the edge of the site and stopped. Looking out over the area that he knew Dean was under he lifted his phone back up and dialled his son's phone. Waiting for the beep he took a deep breath. "Hey it's me. I'm here ok. I know where you are and I'm coming for you, d'you hear me? I know you're still alive in there somewhere." He took a deep breath. "I can….I can just feel it. Don't you dare give up on me. I will find you. I promise. Hang in there Dean. You wait for me to get you. You wait. That's an order." He disconnected the call not knowing if Dean would ever get the chance to hear it, to know that his family was here. This time the thin trails of water that cleansed his face weren't from sweat. He wiped at them, shoved his phone back into his pocket and then went to bully his way back onto the work crew.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N Here's the next one folks. Just a little awkwardness to the meeting with John and Sam (for now), some back story for a helpful Pauline and Sam and Bobby get some more info and have a little chat!

Enjoy. Mary xx

Day Five – John and Sam 

Sam felt his stomach twist as he walked round the corner with Bobby and finally laid eyes on the sight before him. The devastation was total, only the tall towers that he presumed would have had the stairs and elevators housed in them still stood to mark the outline of where the mall had been. The rest was just mountainous piles of broken concrete and twisted metal. Scanning the area he noted with concern that there were fires burning in various areas of the collapse. He turned to Bobby and the older hunter quickly tried to allay his fears. "I don't think they are any fires near where your brother is." He wondered when it had become so easy to read his mind but realised that his concern for his brother was probably etched on his face. The fact that Bobby hadn't mentioned the fires before told Sam that the hunter was more worried about them than he would let him know.

He put down what he was carrying on the hood of a truck that was parked next to them and walked to the edge of where the shopping mall had originally finished, surveying the site for his father's figure. Not being able to see him, the younger Winchester started to move round, closer to where he thought his brother was, closer to where he knew his father would be.

Still, the voice calling his name startled him.

"Sam?"

Taking a minute to take a deep, calming breath, he turned and took in the face of his father, a face that the last time he had seen it had been contorted by anger and pain. The pain was still there but instead of anger there was worry in the lines of John's face and something else that Sam took a moment to recognised as fear. Whether it was fear of his reaction or for his brother's fate Sam wasn't sure but it unsettled him. John Winchester didn't do fear and the emotion looked alien on his face, made him seem smaller somehow than Sam remembered.

"Dad."

He stepped forward, not quite into his father's personal space but near enough. They didn't say anything, just stood there, each waiting for the other to make a move, for the other to extend the olive branch. John rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck in a gesture than remind Sam so much of his brother that it caused a little pang in his heart.

It was the gesture that made him cave.

He smiled at John and then cast his eyes over the wrecked building. "So, anything?"

John stood for a moment longer, obviously some kind of internal war going on, before he stepped forward and gave Sam an awkward but embracing hug. "It's damn good to see you son." The 'I missed you' went unsaid but Sam heard it just the same. As quickly as the moment happened, it was past and John stepped back and adjusted the hard hat that he was wearing, the soldier firmly back in charge. "I was just taking a break. I need to head back in. How did you get in anyway?"

Sam reached for the tray of coffee that he had laid down on the truck, plucking one free and handing it to his father. "I came bearing gifts."

John smiled. "Nice." He took a slip of the coffee and then handed it back to Sam. "I need to go….are you guys gonna follow up on the lead?"

Sam looked at the site again. "I really wanted to stay here and help if I could."

John shook his head at that. "There's more than enough people here just now Sam, in fact there are a few that can't get in to help. They're worried about it collapsing further and taking some of the rescuers with it so they're limiting how many can go in at the one time." He looked out over the site and then turned back to him. "Bobby could do with your help, you always were good at putting the research together for us. I want to know why this happened."

There was another long silence before Sam conceded, not wanting to fight here of all places. "Ok, but you'll call me the minute you know anything?"

John gripped his shoulder. "As soon as I know where Dean is, you'll know. I promise."

"Be careful." Sam watched as his father nodded and then turned back towards the men that were standing behind him, exchanging a few words with them and then heading back in to take his turn.

Sam turned and picked up the rest of the coffee, walking forward to the tent that had been set up for the men to rest in and handed it off to a very grateful looking worker.

Taking one last look at the remains of the mall he went back to Bobby. "Come on then, we've got work to do."

The two men walked in silence back to the truck and then, getting in, turned her in the direction of Treewood.

---

Day Six - Dean

"Dean?" The voice dragged him back from his peaceful oblivion and back into the painful reality of his situation. He grimaced at the pain that was shooting up and down his injured limb telling him that it had seriously not been happy with its change in position.

"Hey." Pauline was lying on her side, staring at him.

Dean gave her a weak smile, sure that if he opened his mouth to talk that it was just come out as a cry of pain. Reaching for the first aid kit he pulled the bottle of pain killers out and emptied two into his hand, taking a small drink from the water bottle to wash them down, resisting the urge to take a longer drink. Resting his head back down, he stared back at Pauline. "You're still here?"

"I was worried."

"Makes two of us." He pulled one of the packets of sandwiches over and carefully opened it, taking half of one and sealing the remainder back up as best he could. He didn't know how long he was going to be under here and as much as he wanted to just eat what he had, he knew it wouldn't be wise. _Not like it's the first time you've had to stretch what little you had over a couple of days._ Once he had finished eating he decided that he couldn't put it off any longer. "Pauline can you move back a little, I need to take a look at my leg." The ghost slid back as he pulled a knife from the duffle and then contorted himself round as best he could in the space that he had wishing that he could sit up a bit more instead of having to bend at the waist. He cut the leg of his jeans round above his knee and then slit it as far down as he could reach, frowning as he noticed blood on the material as he pulled it away.

"Can I help?" Pauline appeared near his knee and he wasn't sure if she had moved down and he hadn't seen her or if she had actually just materialised in that spot.

"Can you see where I'm bleeding from and what's caused it?" _Please don't let the bone be through the skin. _Dean knew that he could manoeuvre himself round far enough to see but any movement hurt like a bitch and she was there, why not get her to help?

Pauline moved closer and he felt the chill as she ran her fingers over his skin, checking for wounds. "You're got cuts on your leg." She tilted her head in a manner that Dean was becoming accustomed to. "Does it hurt?"

_Like a son of a bitch. _"A little. Can you see if the bone's through the skin anywhere? Am I still bleeding?" _Winchester you'd be dead by now if it was still bleeding you moron. _He held his breath for the answer on the bone, knowing that it probably was no but still…with his luck…..

"No. S'not bleeding. I can't see any bones." She turned her head to him at his deep sigh of relief. "You're leg's dirty, it's swollen."

Dean finally pulled himself round far enough to get a better look. The dirt she was talking about was probably the huge bruise that covered most of the lower part of his leg, and she was right, it was definitely swollen. He tried to find the cuts with the light. "Where are the cuts Pauline?"

"Down here." She touched the bottom half of his calf, drawing a little moan from him as she did. "Did I hurt you?" The childlike concern was both endearing and starting to grate on him.

"No, you didn't hurt me, I was hurting already and I asked you to show me, didn't I?"

Pauline nodded. "Do you need me to put a plaster on the cuts?"

He rummaged again in the first aid kit, pulling out a little pack of antiseptic wipes and opening one, handed it to her. "Can you clean the blood off for me? Let me get a better look at them?" Dean knew what she was going to ask. "It'll hurt but it needs to be done, so that you can put the plaster on for me."

She didn't look sure.

"Please. I need your help."

She smiled him a such a sweet smile that it tore at his heart. "Ok. Tell me if you want me to stop."

Smiling back and nodding at her he bit into his lip and waited. It stung as she started and she was a little rough but Dean realised that it was because she was having trouble hanging onto the thin wipe. "Just lay it on my leg and rub it back and forward. It'll be easier for you." The pressure she caused on his leg had him bringing the end on the torch up to bite down on. If he cried out he knew that she'd stop and the pain would be worse if he had to reach down and try it himself.

Finally, Pauline stopped and he quickly removed the light from between his teeth as she turned and came back up to him. "One of them is bleeding again."

"Here." He tore open a gauze pad and handed it to her. "Put that on it and I'll tear off some tape for you to keep it in place against it with." Her hands were light against his skin this time. "Need to put a little pressure on that first Pauline." The touch became heavier and he tore some of the adhesive tape free with his teeth and handed it to her.

"Dean, I don't think I can do this properly." She fumbled with the tape in her free hand managing to stick it to itself and then to him as she wiped it against what was left of his jeans.

Suppressing a little smile as her antics he tore off another piece of the tape. "Just hold the pad over the cut for me, I'll get the tape." He reached down as far as he could, stopping when he felt the pad at his fingers, working his way over it to secure the bottom end and then tearing another couple of strips and doing the same with the middle and the top. It may not hold for long but it would have to do for now. "Thanks, you can let go now. Pauline is there any long pieces of metal or wood that we can use as a split to keep my leg still? "

He watched her hunt round and then turn back to him empty handed. "No, sorry."

The idea struck him as she removed her hands. "Pauline can you rest your hands on the part of my leg that's swollen? I need to try and get the swelling to go down."

"How will that help?" She moved into a position to do it even as she spoke.

"Your hands are cold." That he thought was an understatement. "The coldness will take away the swelling, make it hurt less. Can you do that please?"

"Sure." Bringing herself into a low crouch she brought her hands down gently to rest almost mid shin. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine, thanks. Pauline?" Resting his head on his forearm he looked down towards her, wanting to talk to take his mind off of the pain that was still riding through him despite the pain killers he'd taken. Tylenol he decided didn't really cut it for a broken leg, still the coldness of her hands was easing the pain a little more.

"Mmm?" She was engrossed in what she was doing, concentrating on helping him without hurting him too much.

"What do you remember about this place? How did you know that it was going to come down eventually?"

She cast him a quick look and then she looked back down at his leg as she started to speak. "There were cracks. I remember cracks. There was something not right with the plans. I don't remember what. I tried to tell them."

Dean steered her away from the subject for a minute. "Where are you from originally?" Maybe if he could get her to recall other, more simple things then the bits that he wanted her to remember would fall into place.

"I grew up on a farm just outside Hamilton. My family are still there."

"How many of you are there?"

"Three. I've an older brother and sister."

"Your mom and dad still alive?"

"Yes." She turned to look at him then. "Do you think that they are looking for me? My family? Or do you think that they've just given up?"

Dean swallowed hard and bit his lip. "I'm sure that they're still looking for you."

"Do you have family? Will they be looking for you?" There was that little head tilt again. He wondered if it was a nervous tic or if it was a result of her injury, a sign that all was not well in her head.

"There's my dad and my brother. Dad's working away and Sam, my brother, he's at college….." He let his mind wander for a moment to his own family and wondered if they'd were here, looking for him. Bobby would have called them by now. _Wonder if they even picked up? _"……I don't know if they are looking for me or not."

"How long…." A hiss escaped him as she tightened her hands on his leg and brought him back from his musing, her icy fingers slipping in through his flesh without leaving so much as a scratch. "…..have I been…gone?"

"Pauline? That kind of hurts." He rolled his forehead forward onto his arm and lay there until the little wave of pain crested and then ebbed away.

"God." She looked down at her hands and instantly let go. "Sorry." Her cold fingers were now touching his head, carding his hair and he rolled his head back round, almost startling at how close she was, her face almost touching his.

"M'ok. Just stop for now alright." He closed his eyes and answered her question. "Three months, you've been missing almost three months, give or take a day or two."

"My mother will be so sad. She isn't well. I visit every week and call her every night, just to let her know that I'm thinking of her, that I love her. My sister is getting married next year, I'm to be her maid of honour……or I was to be."

Dean could tell from her voice she was crying. _How does a ghost cry_?He shushed the thought and opened his eyes again. Reaching out he cupped her face with his hand, watching the tears fall onto it but not feeling them. "I'll make sure they know what happened to you Pauline, that you're still thinking of them."

"What if you don't get out? Who'll tell them then?"

Dean sighed. _Thanks for raising that thought in my head. What if I don't get out? Would my family still be thinking of me? Would they even care?_ He pulled his hand back from her face and wiped at his own, fighting down the doubts that her questions had raised. He had food and he had water and Bobby knew he was in here. Family waiting or not he was getting out of here, he just had to be patient and wait until they found him. Locking eyes with her he smiled defiantly. "I'm getting out Pauline, and when I do I'll speak to them. I promise."

"If you get out….who'll stay with me? I don't want to be alone. I want you to stay with me. Promise me that you wont leave me."

Dean wasn't quite sure he liked the way that she looked at him as she said that and he did something he normally would never do, made a promise he knew that he probably wouldn't be keeping, at least not in the way she thought that he'd be keeping it. "I promise I won't let you get left behind alone."

_Hell, crazy company is better than no company at all, right? _

_Right?_

As her smile brightened and she moved in closer to him he just hoped that it was.

---

Day Six - Sam and Bobby 

After talking to the police in Treewood as FBI and then finessing a few of the Daye's neighbours as a reporter, Bobby had made his way to the motel and met back up with Sam whom he dropped off earlier at the local planning office. Sam had split up with the elder hunter taking both it and the local newspaper to dig up as much as he could find on the mall and James Daye. It had been late by the time that they had got back and Bobby insisted that they get some sleep and look at the information that they had gather in the morning with fresh eyes. Sam had argued at first but had given in when he saw the exhaustion that was written on the older hunter's face.

Sleep hadn't come easily though and when Bobby woke in the morning Sam was already up and at the laptop.

"You want breakfast? " the elder hunter asked as he rolled himself out of the bed and into the bathroom.

"Nah. Not hungry." Sam didn't even lift his head from the screen.

Bobby opened the door and came back out, gathering clothes as he went. "I'm gonna go get some anyhow. You'll be hungry when you smell it." He disappeared back into the bathroom for a few minutes and then came back out fully dressed. "I won't be long."

The little bell above the door signalled his arrival as he pushed his way inside the diner. It was tatty, the red vinyl on it's seat faded and patched and the tabletops worn dull by years of cleaning and traffic, but at least it was clean and Bobby knew that the food wasn't half bad. He ordered a round of pancakes and a full breakfast, slipping into one of the seat with a coffee while he waited. Pulling out his phone he called John. He almost cursed as it went to voicemail. "Just checking if you had any news and if you were ever gonna come back and get a break. Sam and I have a few leads to check into so if you want a sleep we won't be in your way. Call me back let me know what's happenin'."

Sam was still sitting at the desk with his head in the laptop when Bobby came back and put the food under his nose. "Eat. It ain't a request." Bobby pulled the breakfast to him and then took out his notebook, watching as Sam pushed back the laptop and picked up the coffee and the pancakes.

The elder hunter took a bite of one of the sausages and then talked as he chewed it. "James Daye is, or was, forty two. He's a local boy, only child of Janet and Hugh Daye who own and run the local chemist. Wife is Harriet Daye, thirty two and full time carer to their daughter Louise, who's seven. Harriet's family own a property business, I'm still looking into that. James Daye killed himself either that or it's the best staged suicide that Greg Humphrey, the coroner that I talked to, has even seen. So it looks that Mr Daye was either paid or threatened to sign off on something that he knew he shouldn't have or to look the other way. My money is on paid as the family have only just moved into their nice new eight hundred thousand dollar house about six months ago, just after the first of the improvements to the mall were signed off on. Either way looks like he saw what happened to the mall, knew it was gonna come back and bite him on the ass and took the coward's way out. Oh, and James Daye signed off on everything, handled the whole project personally. I'd like to see a copy of all the things he approved. It's in there somewhere, the reason for the collapse, we just have to find it."

Sam took a half heart bite at one of the pancakes and downed it with some coffee. "Well the planning office is a bust for now, the cops were already there, gathering information on the mall, so they must be looking at the same angle we are. I'll see if I can get anything off the net."

"Gonna use that Stanford education to hack a few websites?" Bobby chuckled.

"No, but I'll probably need it if I get caught hacking into them." Sam tapped at the laptop and brought up the notes and timeline that his brother had been working on. "I had a quick look through the memo's that Dean had sorted out. Seems that two of the main engineers on the project just quit and walked off. I tried the office but they couldn't or wouldn't help me with where they'd gone so I'll need to dig a bit deeper, see if I can get an address or a phone number for them, that is unless they met the same fate as our ghost."

"Do you think they have?" Bobby raised an eyebrow at him.

Sam shrugged. "If you're gonna kill one person, does it make a difference if you kill more? These guys knew that there was something wrong with the mall yet they never told anyone or did anything about it after quitting their jobs? I think that they'll probably be buried somewhere too."

Sighing Bobby looked at his notes again. "Just collateral damage to the assholes behind this in a bid to keep what had been done under wraps. Pauline, them, and all the other poor souls that got crushed to death." Bobby said it without thinking and then could have kicked himself at the pained look that slipped over Sam's face quickly and then was gone. Leaning over he tapped the top of Sam's hand. "Hey, he's alive. Until they prove to us otherwise, Dean Winchester is still alive. We agreed on that."

Sam wiped at his face. "I know Bobby…." His eyes glitter as he looked across at his companion. "But just…..just, what if he isn't? I mean the last time I actually spoke to him was months ago. He was mad at me for not returning his calls, did you know that?"

The older hunter shook his head. "He didn't say anything to me about being mad at you Sam, but I know that he was hurting, what with your daddy bailing on him as well, he was kinda down. When I caught up with him he was drinking a lot, don't think that he'd been really eating that much either."

Sam looked at him questioningly. "Wait, what do you mean dad bailed on him? When? Why didn't he say?"

The elder hunter's eyes widened at that remark. "John ditched him about three months ago Sam, left him to do a hunt on his own and just never came back for him. Why didn't Dean say? If you'd have just answered your damn phone to him he might have told you. Then again, what difference would it have made to you? Not like you were going to quit college and go back on the road with him, was it?" Bobby watched Sam irk at the remark but he carried on. "Don't get annoyed at me, you know that I'm right. Why'd you think that your brother was so desperate to get a hold of you? He was lonely Sam. He needed his family and you guys couldn't even answer your phones to him."

"He drunk dialled me, I should have known then that something was off."

"Why, what did he say?" Bobby took another swig of his coffee as he watched Sam fish in his pocket for his phone.

Calling up the message he handed the it across to Bobby to listen to. "I had been busy Bobby, I had exams and I thought it was the usual, that he was just touching base to see if I was alright. It was all just 'hi can you call me's'. At least it was until I got this. I meant to call him back Bobby, I did. I swear. Instead it was you calling me." Sam put his head down into his hands and sighed. "What if I've lost my brother and he's gone thinking that I don't care about him?"

"You have not lost your brother." The sharpness in Bobby's tone made Sam look up. "He knows you care, just sometimes….he needs to hear it as well Sam." Bobby hit play and frowned at the message that Dean had left on Sam's phone. It was painfully obvious that he was drunk. "Hey this is Sam, leave a message; this is Dean doing just that. Again. Remember Dean? Don't you have a brother that's called that? Oh wait, that's me isn't it?" The voice stopped and Bobby heard the distinct noise of Dean taking a slug out of a bottle. "What's wrong Sam, got all your new fancy friends at college now and don't need me anymore?" There was so much hurt in the tone of voice that it made Bobby winch. "Well newsflash Sammy, I'll always be your pain in the ass, embarrass the hell out of you, big brother, no matter how hard you try to forget about me. We're family and as much as you'd probably like to…you can't change that. Maybe one day you might even have the decency to call me the fuck back or pick up, but hell Sammy, just don't strain anything in the process." The next message started to play before Bobby could stop it. "Hey Sam, it's Dean…. but you'd know that already from the caller ID. Probably why you didn't pick up right? Thing is……I'm just calling to apologise for the message I left the other day……what can I say……it was a drunk dial……anyway……can you just call me back…..please……I…I ….."

"Did you call him back?" The elder hunter already knew the answer to that but he wanted Sam to confirm it.

"No." Sam shook his head sorrowfully.

Bobby sighed angrily. "I don't get it Sam. He called you to apologise for being upset that you couldn't be bothered to call him in the first place and you still never got back to him?" It was his turn to be irked. "What in the hell is wrong with you boy? You had exams? You were busy? He's your _brother_ Sam, and he just needed to talk to you." Bobby's worry for Dean, his own guilt and his annoyance at both the other Winchester's finally boiled over. He held up his hand splaying his fingers as he did. "Five minutes of your time, was that really too much for him to ask for? Dean gave up everything he was, everything he could have been, for you _and_ your daddy and you both just pissed off and left him on his ass when something better came along." He handed the phone back to Sam and got right up in his face. "You know, maybe it would be better for him if he was dead, you two treat him like he is anyway."

Pushing back his chair Bobby stood and grabbed his jacket. "I need some air, I'll get you back here later."

Sam flinched as the door slammed in Bobby's wake. He tried to get back to the research but for now his heart wasn't in it. Thinking that a shower might help he stood and walked over to where Dean's clothes duffle was lying on the floor. He pulled his dad's old leather jacket off the top and threw it on the bed, then he pulled a clean pair of his brother's underwear and socks out and one of Dean's t-shirts deciding that the jeans he had on would have to do, Dean's wouldn't fit him. His brother's journal was lying under the shirt and Sam lifted it, wondering if there was any other information in it that he could use. As he opened it a picture fell out. He picked it up and sat down on the edge of the bed. It was them, sitting in the Impala. The photo was an old one that Sam couldn't even remember having being taken. A much younger Dean was sitting shotgun and he was in the back, both resting their arms on the sills, heads out the windows, laughing.

Sam sighed and rested his head down on his arms.

He opened the phone and called Dean's number, tears building as he listened to his brother's greeting. "Hey it's Dean, you know what to do!" Sam wiped at his nose and then spoke. "Hey it's me, you know the brother that never calls you back. Well I am now. We're here. Dad and me. We're coming to get to you. We're coming Dean."

Sam showered and changed quickly, Dean's t-shirt not quite the right fit but close enough until Sam could go buy some clothes since he'd left everything at Stanford. The thought crossed his mind then that he'd have to phone Jessica, hers just another missed call on his phone.

Leaving a note for Bobby he walked round the motel, started up the car that he had dumped there the evening previously and pulled out heading for the mall. He couldn't sit doing research any longer. He had to help dig, he would make them let him.

His brother needed him and this time Sam thought, he would be there for him.

He only hoped that it wasn't too little, too late.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N Filling in some back story for Pauline and more from Dean and co.

Remembrance 

Three months earlier. 

Pauline sorted her hair in the bathroom mirror and took a deep breath.

She could do this.

This was the job that she'd been looking for and what she was about to do might jeopardise her position at Jordan Air Conditioning but she couldn't stay quiet. It wasn't right. They knew and yet they were doing nothing. "Ok kid, let's do this." She smiled at her reflection and turned to the door.

"Pauline Woods from Jordan AC to see James Daye." She fiddled with the ring on her finger, twisting it as she waited for the receptionist to call through her boss.

"He'll see you now, it's the second door on the right, if you just knock and go in." The receptionist smiled briefly and then turned back to her computer, instantly dismissing her.

"Thanks." Pauline picked up her briefcase, shrugged her handbag further up onto her shoulder and then headed for the indicated door.

James Daye wasn't what she had expected, younger and handsome in his own way, his smile quick and easy as he stood to shake her hand and then directed her into one of the seats in front of his desk. "How can I help you Miss Woods?"

She got straight to the point. "I'm worried about one of the alterations to the plans for the refurbishment of the mall. I believe that it could jeopardise the structural integrity of the structure by reducing the load bearing columns. That added to the additional weight of the new air conditioning units that we're installing on the roof could have grave consequences for the long term safety of the mall. I know that you're overseeing the project and that you're a local man, I hoped that bringing this to your attention that you could hold off on the last of the permissions until we're sure that safety isn't being compromised for the sake of getting the place back up and running."

"Miss Woods I can assure you that every I is being dotted and every T crossed in this restructure. The mall is of extreme importance to the local economy here."

She held back the sigh. "Mr Daye, with all due respect, I know what I'm talking about here. I'm a structural engineer and an architect, plus I feel that I'm the only one from the two companies involved here that is looking at the bigger picture. If it were only the alterations taking place then the structure would be fine, as it would if only the air conditioning units were getting installed. It's the combination of the two that has me worried. There are already stress fractures in some of the load bearing walls."

Daye's eyes were unreadable as he studied her. "So what exactly is the problem that you think Anderson Kyle, your own firm and my office appear to have missed?" He leant forward, the blank look being replaced by a carefully schooled look of worry that set her senses on edge. Once again she wondered if she was doing the right thing, if she shouldn't have taken this above even his head. Swallowing her fears she opened her briefcase and pulled out the plans.

-----

Dean

He woke with a start as the icy hand touched his arm, opening his eyes and staring into the ones of the spirit that lay facing him. "You were dreaming, I was scared that you'd hurt your leg."

"I was?" Try as he might he couldn't bring any thoughts of what he was dreaming about to mind although there was a feeling of loneliness that he couldn't shake, it rested on him like the hand of a friend and maybe he thought that's just what it was, his only companion in the last few months. _Me and my shadow._ Somehow the thought made him smile. _Maybe I'm going crazy too. _

"Who's Sam?" Pauline rested her head back down on her arm, never breaking eye contact with him.

"My brother."

"You were calling for him. Do you think he'll come? Do you think he'll find us? Save us?" Her hand that still rested on his arm tightened a little and then she let go, brushing at his face gently before she rested it under her head too.

_Lady you're dead? Remember? We talked about this already._ The thoughts never made it passed his lips, his mind choosing not to prod his already, not quite all there companion. "I don't know, but I've got a friend that's looking for us, he'll come."

"You sound sure."

"I am." _That's of course unless he's under here too._ He pushed that thought right away. _No giving up hope Winchester, that's an order. _She watched as he chuckled softly. _Yeah, you look at me like I'm the crazy one lady._

He busied himself for a spell, eating some of the sandwich, taking a drink and a painkiller and all the time she watched him. Quietly observing.

Her stared was off putting so he tried to strike up some conversation, pulling his jacket closer over him as a shiver of cold ran through him. _Now is not the time to get sick Winchester. _

"So, you knew that something was wrong with the building then? Did you know that it was going to fall down?"

She thought for a moment. "I think I did, at least I remember being worried for all the people who would be in here."

"Called that one right then. So you tried to warn them? Let them know that there was a problem? Your boss? The planners?"

"I did?" Pauline didn't look sure. Then her face brightened. " I did! At least I think I did." She frowned and tilted her head at him again.

_Definitely one short of a six pack._ Dean pushed on. "Who did you tell Pauline? Can you remember for me? Please?"

The silence was longer this time. "I…I ….." Her hand rubbed at her forehead. "His name was Daye." The smile was bright that broke across her face. "His name was James Daye, he was the planning guy. I told him. I warned him." Her voice rose and she glared across at Dean. "He knew. It was him that told me to go there. It was him."

Dean felt a little fear creep up his spine as his ghostly companion became a tad too agitated for his liking. Holding out a placating hand he spoke quietly to her. "Tell me what you remember Pauline."

-----

Three months ago

"See these alterations that have been put in place for the new fire regulations, these shutters for the escalators at the rear and front of the mall?"

James leant in closer. "Yes. They are there to comply with the most recent regulations, they close in the event of a fire an stop the spread to another floor."

Pauline bit back the 'I know what they are' that was hangin from her lips. "Well to install them the contractors have reduced, on the advise of Anderson Kyle, these columns, here, here and here." She pointed at the plans and watched as he raised his head and looked at her bemusedly.

"And?"

"And?" She shook her head. "And, these are the supporting columns for the floors above. AND, they have reduced all of them, all the way up through all the floors." She paused.

"I'm not seeing the problem here. The architects have clearly factored in the weight of the floors above and decided that it is still within regulations. They wouldn't have done it otherwise."

Pauline wondered why no one could see what she could. "Maybe they did, but what they haven't done is factor in the weight of the new units that we were installing on the roof, the math doesn't work, add these into the equations and you have a potential disaster on your hands." She stared him right in the eye. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow or next month or hell even next year….but this mall is going to collapse. It is a death trap. It is an accident waiting to happen. It is going to claim the lives of everyone in it if you don't do something now. It is going to come for them when they least expect it."

"Very dramatic Miss Woods." He sat back in his chair and rested his hands on the arms watching the intense look on the woman in front of him. "Ok, let's say there is a problem. How do we fix it?"

"Extra columns. It'll cut some of the retail spaces sure, but it will safe guard all the others." She sat patiently as he studied her again before he spoke.

"I'll call a meeting. We'll get all the parties to the restructuring down to the building and you can show me these fractures and we can discuss what we do and where we go from there."

A triumphant little smile crossed her face. "Thank you."

"If you leave your contact number with my secretary then I'll call you when we have everything set up."

"I will and thank you again."

He smiled until the door closed and then he reached for the phone. "We've got a problem.....No, one of the workers at Jordan found a flaw in your plans…….how the hell should I know…..I told her we'd met to discuss it…..yeah I'll call her." He put the phone down and rested his head on the desk, a small groan escaping him. "What the hell have I got myself into?"

-----

Bobby steered John's truck into the side of the road and checked his phone again. "God, now I know how you felt son, constantly wanting to check for that call that you can't help feelin' ain't ever gonna come. Don't even know if you've still got the damn thing on you." He pocketed the phone and slipped from the truck, rounding the side of the Bank that was on the corner of the street and then walking down between the tents that had been put up for the men helping with the rescue to rest and eat in.

Turning the final corner he headed over to where he knew that he was going to find John and shook his head when he found the man he was looking for, dripping in sweat with a look of grim determination on his face. "Why in damnation can't you just show him how much he's means to you when he's standing right in front of ya?" That's when his eyes caught the second figure that was now working next to his father. Both men's shirts were soaked with their exertions, lifting blocks of concrete and cement between them that seemed far too big for them to have actually managed it and passing them off to the poor unfortunates that weren't graced with as much muscle strength or incentive as the driven Winchester men. He watched as they worked in silence, both seeming to instinctively know where the other needed them to be, and when, in order to manage to prise the lumps of wrecked mall from the slowly decreasing pile.

A shout went up from another corner of the fallen structure and Bobby turned to look as all work on the site stopped, the rescuers waiting to see if this one that had been found had been saved by their efforts or if a moment of silence would be needed to pay a small mark of respect. The silence that was already in air tugging at Bobby, chilled him. He could almost feel death waiting to see if it could ride off with another soul tonight. So lost was he in his musings that he didn't hear John until the other man rested a hand on his shoulder, causing Bobby to jump like a scalded cat. Placing a hand on his heart he glared at his friend but they didn't speak, neither wanting to be the person to breach the quiet that blanketed everything.

A second shout rang out and they watched as the stretcher with a black body bag on it was raised over to where the only men working on the site stood.

"Why are the cops moving in?" John's question sounded too loud in the quiet. They watched as police moved up over towards the little band of fire-fighters and EMT's that were huddled around the site of the latest grim discovery.

It struck Bobby then. He took in the remains of the mall, judging where the men were, realising who and what they were looking at. "It's her. They've found her."

They started forward together, Bobby trail blazing through the wreckage, skirting the worst, knowing that John and Sam were scrambling through after him. They played follow the leader all the way over to the edge of the area and then Bobby moved on alone, pulling his badge from his inside pocket and flashing it at the worker that tried to block his way. By the time he got that far there was already one of the officers starting to tape off the scene, the yellow roll bright in the fading light of the day.

"What did you find?"

The young officer looked up from his task. "You are?"

"Special Agent Clapton." It wasn't only Dean and his family that could do rock alias he thought as he flashed the badge at the young man and smiled grimly.

"You guys are all over this place. Do you know something we don't?"

"I know that you should have been a cop long enough to know not to ask that question and answer mine." His glare caused the young boy to break eye contact and look down.

"Sorry sir." There was an edge to the 'sir' that remind Bobby of Dean when his father had pissed him off, it made him fight to keep the smile off his face. "Found a body."

"That's novel. It's a damned collapse, of course you found a body. What else?"

"Hands were bound and it appears to have been in some kinda box. Look you really should be talking to the Sheriff on this….he's over there. I just got sent away to tape the scene."

"I'll wait until they get her out." Bobby turned to walk back to John but the cop's voice stopped him.

"Hey, how'd you know it was a female?"

Bobby turned, grinned at the guy and shrugged. "Lucky guess."

He knew the cop was watching him as he walked away but he resisted the urge to turn, instead he picked up his pace and manoeuvred over to where John and Sam were standing.

"Well?" John wiped his hands absently on his shirt.

"It's her. I was kinda hoping that they wouldn't find her so quick."

John frowned. "Why?"

"Why? Well now it's a damned crime scene and the guys that did this now need to cover their tracks more than ever. I can't help thinking that things are gonna get messy. Might help in one way though."

"Enlighten me."

"Well there's gonna be that many cops crawling over this that I doubt they'll notice another one or two that shouldn't be here."

John smiled at him properly for the first time since he'd got there. "I like your thinking Mr Singer. Now." He turned to Sam. "Think we should get back to work." When Sam didn't make a move to follow him John stopped. "What is it Sam?"

"Don't you think that we should salt and burn her?"

The two elder hunters exchanged looks. "Why?" It was Bobby that asked.

"What if she's with Dean? Do you think that she could be? Do you think that she'd hurt him. I mean he's a hunter and she's….not exactly a vengeful spirit but she isn't exactly a happy one either." Sam looked at his two companions.

John didn't like the thought of her being with his son one little bit but there wasn't a lot that they could do about that right at this minute. He said as much. "Let's get back to the digging and Bobby can see if he can find out more of what's happened here and maybe where they'll take the body." Casting a glance Bobby's way he acknowledged his friend's small nod of agreement and they split up, John and Sam back to their chain gang and Bobby back over to the 'crime scene', carefully skirting the younger cop that now had dropped the tape and was manfully chasing it down the small incline at the rear of the mall.

The young man's antics brought a welcome chuckle to his throat as he walk up to question the man that could only be the Sheriff. "You just can't get the staff these days."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N Just a little chapter to get this moving, sorry for the delay, I have a few more chapters ready to post but there is a plot point that has decided not to play and I am having trouble finding the time to kick it into shape! Aaargh. Mary xx

Day Seven

Dean peeled opened his eyes and let out a heartfelt groan as his body woke with him, protesting loudly to him at its too long period of inactivity. He tried to placate it, stretching a little, easing out the kinks but it still wanted the last word and it had him biting his lip as his injured leg woke too and reminded him of its presence. Reaching over and snagging the bottle of pain pills, he spilt out two and swallowed them down with some of the water from one of the bottles then took the antibiotics and repeated the process.

Dean decided to take advantage of the fact that Pauline was nowhere around to take care of his most pressing need, thanking God that he had the empty bottle and hoping that he'd be found before things got really messy. Having taken care of business he slowly raised himself up on one arm and assessed his situation. The leg was his main concern, it hurt like hell, worse than he could ever remember a broken leg should and he'd had more than one point of reference for that. Problem was that he'd never lain for so long without seeking out attention for it so he figured perhaps that was the reason for its continual bitching at him. He ignored it as best he could and carried on with his self-assessment. Despite the antibiotics he could feel the spike in his temperature and although that worried him he tried to push it to the back of his mind knowing that he couldn't do anything about it except keep up his regime until the pills ran out and hope for the best. Dean figured that he'd been under here somewhere between three to four days now so the search and rescue should still be just that, searching for him and hopefully rescuing his ass. That he knew though wouldn't be the case forever, maybe only a few more days if that. Really, really not something he wanted to dwell on he decided.

An idea flashed into his mind as he lay back but it left him debating with himself for a little while whether it was a good one or not, the need to know finally winning him over despite his concerns about his ghostly companion. Still he took the shotgun from the duffle, checked it was loaded and slide it down against him.

Just in case.

He needed to know what was going on topside so he did the easy thing first. Checking his phone he sighed and resisted the urge to hurl it across the space he was trapped in as it stubbornly refused to find a signal for him. Closing it he laid it down carefully in front of him and tried to hold back the tears of self-pity that he could feel beginning to prick the back of his eyes. "Winchester's don't cry asshat, suck it up," he chided himself. "You're still breathing and Bobby is out there somewhere trying to dig you outta this mess. Ok?" He nodded to himself and wiped what he decided was just sweat from his fever off of his face.

Pauline was his only shot at this, but she was also he feared part of his problem down here. He hoped that he could change that to make her part of the solution instead. He called her name quietly, noticing her arrival by the drop in the temperature long before she materialised in front of him.

"Hey." He smiled his best, and what he prayed was his most winning smile at her. "Where have you been?"

"Around," she answered cryptically. "What's up? You need my help with something?" She paused. "Is it your leg? Are you ok?" There was genuine concern in her voice as she spoke which made him feel bad for all the negative thoughts that were swirling round his head.

"No. Leg's fine," he lied. _Here goes nothing._ "Pauline, can you get topside? I'd like to know if my family are here, if they're looking for me."

The concern was instantly replaced with something darker. "Why?"

Dean's doubts returned but he continued to smile, poker face firmly in place. "I just wanted to know that they cared, that's all. That if I don't make it out, they were here for me anyway, you know? If you don't want to, it doesn't matter. I understand." Dean laid on the guilt and saw her emotions waver.

He reached into his wallet and pulled out the photo that he kept there. It was about six years old and Sam had changed a lot, but his father hadn't and Dean knew that if Bobby had called his father he would have called his brother too. If John was here then so was Sam. He held the photo out for her to look at. "Dad hasn't changed much but Sam's a lot taller now."

He watched her study the picture and then her eyes flicked up to stare into his. "You're going to leave me here. They're going to find you and you're going to leave me." There was a sadness in her voice that cut him deeply, mainly because he knew that she was right.

Locking eyes with her he spoke softly. "I am not going to leave you. Even if I get out of here, I promise that I'll help you and that we'll find the people that did this. You have to trust me."His free hand drifted down and he tightened his fingers on the trigger of the shotgun.

Pauline smiled, but it was a fractured expression. "I'll think about it."

Then she vanished.

Dean let his head fall back releasing the shotgun and holding the picture over his head, almost laughing at the expression of discontent that was clear on his brother's face, remembering the argument that had preceded the photo being taken. At the moment he'd give anything to hear his father and his brother arguing and he had to fight the tears again as an immense feeling of weariness hit him.

He closed his eyes and was drifting back to sleep when he felt her beside him.

"They're here," she stated and hope bubbled in him. "….but I'm sorry, they're digging in the wrong place."

She was gone when he opened his eyes and he let the tears finally fall.

* * *

Sam stopped, something making his skin crawl. The distinct impression that he was being watched. Looking up, he stopped in mid turn and scanned the site for the reason for his unease. A little flash of grey caught his attention over from where they were digging. The fleeting image of a woman.

"Sam!" His father's voice cut into his reverie. "Pass that down the line and take this!" Sam passed off the lump of concrete in his arms but didn't take the one that his father was now holding out to him.

"Sam!" John thrust the heavy load at his son and went to turn back to work, realising as he did that his son was still staring off to his right, frozen in the moment. "What is it? D'you see something?" The older man swivelled to follow his son's line of vision, frowning when he saw nothing untoward.

"I think I saw her."

Sam stepped from the line and started down across the rubble only for John to catch his arm and spin him to face him. "What the hell do you think you are doing? You don't even know if the ground under this pile is safe." John looked across again at the spot that was holding Sam's attention. "It was her?"

Nodding Sam pulled his arm free but John stopped him again.

"Just because she's over there, doesn't mean that he is. Bobby thinks Dean is round this area somewhere. He knows the layout of the building, I trust his judgement."

Turning to talk to his father Sam caught sight of her again. "There dad." He pointed a finger in the direction he wanted John to look, trying not to attract the attention of the others that had taken advantage of the two men stopping to rest. "D'you see her?"

"Yeah. I see her. She doesn't look happy."

"No. She's moved as well. She was further over the last time."

"She might not be with Dean at all."

"She's female, dead or not, she'll probably still be getting hit on by my brother," Sam joked lightly.

John snorted. "He does have a way with the ladies, usually though the dead ones just want to knock him on his ass rather than jump on it. Ok. Let's get this bit cleared and then we'll see if they'll let us move further over, nearer to where she is."

"Ok." Sam watched as the figure phased into view for the last time and then disappeared before he turned back to work, hoping that they were one step closer to getting his brother out.

* * *

Pauline knew that they had see her. In fact she was counting on them seeing her. Where they were digging was only feet from where Dean laid trapped but she wanted them to follow her, to move further away from him. She could feel him weakening when he was with her and although part of her wanted to help him, a little part wanted him to stay with her. To not leave her alone here. Dead and unloved.

Dean would love her, all she had to do was keep him with her until they stopped searching. After that he'd be with her. Always.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N – Sorry for the huge delay and the short chapter! I thought that I had already posted this, obviously not. Life is really busy at the moment so I will try and move this along again asap!

Thanks as always for reading, Mary xx

* * *

Bobby jumped as the motel room door was swung back hard against the wall, hand reaching for the gun before he realised that it was John Winchester that was coming storming through.

"Hell's teeth John, are you tryin'to get yourself shot!"

The elder Winchester didn't acknowledge him, just kept on his trajectory for the bathroom and then rattled its door almost off the hinges too. Bobby felt him dread level spike through the ceiling as he turned back to the now closing door that Sam was pushing over.

"What the hell happened? Is it Dean?" Bobby marvelled that he could still form words over the heart shaped lump that was in his throat.

Sam dumped a bag on the table and then himself on the chair. "Gas leak. They cleared the site of all volunteers. Shut it down until they can make it safe. Told us not to come back until tomorrow." Sam slumped forward on the table. "Took three of us to get him in the truck."

"Jesus. How bad is the leak?"

"No idea, they wouldn't tell us. Gas guys are there now trying to shut it down from a safe distance."

"How's it going anyway?" Bobby got up and poured Sam a coffee, noticing the tiredness in the younger man and the way that his hand shook as he tried to lift the cup. "You look done in. You should go and lie down, top up the tank."

"It's slow Bobby. It is so damn slow and if Dean is still alive then it's taking too long." Sam stood, walked over to the nearest bed and collapsed on it. "I think we saw her."

Bobby's ears picked up at that. "Saw who? Pauline?"

"She was standing a little bit off from where we were digging, dad and I were gonna move over that way, see if she was trying to lead us to Dean. They kicked us out before we could though."

"The ghost was trying to help you find Dean?" Bobby wasn't sure what he thought of that. "Why?"

"I did ask myself that too, couldn't get an answer that I liked though."

"I got some aerial shots of the site from one of the Feds, let's look for landmarks in the rubble and see if we can match it up to where I know that the car was." Bobby moved over to the wall and started to loosen the blueprint from it.

"What if Dean wasn't at the car?" Sam sat back up and into a sitting position.

"He told me he was in the parking level before the call dropped and he would have needed to get to the car 'cos his phone was in the glove box. He was there, I'm sure of it."

John emerged from the bathroom the steam still rising from his ears nothing to do with the shower he had taken. "You guys got a lead? What are you doing?"

"Sam told me about Casper, I'm just checking that she ain't screwing with us?" Bobby smoothed the plans down and dropped the photos on top.

John pulled up a chair. "Why would you think that she would screw with us?" He leant in and took some of the pictures. "What are we looking for? Landmarks to tie these to the areas on the plan?

"She's a ghost and if there is one thing I've learnt in my time as a hunter, you don't trust dead things without checking it out." He took some of the photos too and a red marker. "That exactly what we're gonna do. Here is where Dean should be if he is with the car, which I'm 95% certain that he is." He marked the plans with a red X. "Now lets match what we can and narrow this down."

"Why didn't we do this before?" Sam started the turn the photo in his hand to see if he could spot an elevator tower or part of a wall with writing or direction signs still on it.

"I was certain that you guys at least were on the money for where Dean was, now we have different intel and we need to check who's right. So get checking."

* * *

Dean was too warm and the headachy feeling that he'd had since he woke was building. He looked at the little drop of water that was left. He knew that he wasn't drinking enough, although for the supplies he had it was still too much. He took two more painkillers and then shook out the last of the anti-biotics into his hand. Dean was tired, every bone in his body was starting to hurt in spite of his attempts to move and flex them every hour or two.

The worst was, he knew the drill, knew what was coming for him, what to expect thanks to John's survival skills lessons.

He figured that without the water he'd last another two/three days tops and then it wouldn't matter. If the feeling in his gut was anything to go by then none of the following days were going to be pretty.

Just for a minute his eyes rest on the handgun that is sitting on the top of the duffle just begging for attention. Before he could stop himself he picked it up, ejected the cartridge and threw it across the small area. Temptations like that one, he didn't need.

Lying down fully again he started as he heard the noise, his mind taking precious seconds to recognise the sound of a missed call on his phone. It took him another good few seconds to realise what that meant. Snatching the handset up he called up his last call and hit re-dial.

Bobby startled as his phone vibrated in his pocket. Reaching in he pulled it free and nearly dropped it when he say the name on the caller ID.

"Dean!" Two heads shot up at the mention of the name. Bobby listened to dead silence for the longest second of his life and then he had to hold back the tears at the sound of the voice that he thought he'd never hear again.

"Bobby?" Dean's voice was weak and cracked but still it was Dean, still alive and on the other end of the phone.

"Son, are you ok? Whereabouts are you?" Bobby elbowed John in the gut as he tried to snatch the phone from him.

"At the car. Bobby, my water's all gone. Need you to……," the phone signalled faded.

"DEAN!"

"Find me." It dropped altogether.

"Damn blasted piece of useless crap." Bobby banged his phone on the desk and then tried to call Dean back but it went to voicemail.

"Well?" John hissed at him.

"He sounds rough." Bobby was still staring hatefully at his phone. "Says he's outta water. And he's at the car, so you guys were in the right place."

"I'm going back." John stood and put his jacket back on.

"They wont let you in." Sam stated, standing and reaching for his.

"Let's see them damn well try and stop me."

* * *

Dean would have cried as the call dropped if he had had any tears to spare but at least they knew that he was alive now and that was what matter. John would move Heaven and Hell to get to him now so all he had to do was hang on.

He wasn't ready for the explosion that rocked the little world that he was living in but he still somehow managed to push backwards as he heard the concrete above him creak and shift from the effect of it. He fumbled for the flashlight and shone it upwards taking in the large crack that was still slowly working it's way across the void.

_This is bad, this is really bad._ He got the thought out and then pulled what he could reach to him, not a moment too soon as the slab gave and crashed in towards him. The dust was choking and he couldn't move his arm far enough to cover his face with his hand. Each cough was like a knife wound to the chest as he tried to keep his breathing as shallow as possible.

Finally it settled and when, after what seemed like an eternity, he could see through the dust he realised that he was in a space just big enough for him to fit.

The car was hard against his back, the floor beneath him and the roof now finishing off what was probably a lovely triangular shaped space that was barely wider than he was.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Dean's still trapped but for how much longer?

* * *

"MY SON IS ALIVE AND UNDER THERE!" John's bellow could be heard across the whole area and Sam could see a few of the uniform police officers guarding the entrance, look up and start in their direction. He squeezed between his father and the rather pale and shaken looking, city official and put a restraining hand on his father's chest.

"Please," Sam started. "You have to understand that we spoke to him on the phone less than an hour ago. Dean is still alive under there, we even have a really good idea of where and we have already been digging and clearing rubble in that area. We could be minutes away from finding him."

The man straightened his tie and looked at them both, sympathy in his eyes. "I understand, I do, but you have to understand that there was an explosion here less than half an hour ago and the site is unstable. We're still not sure that it's safe for anyone to go back out there or that there won't be another explosion. I can't let you go out there until I get the all clear."

"My son could be dead by then!" John hissed at him.

"He could be dead already, the explosion caused the whole area that we were focusing the search on to collapse," the official tried to reason, stepping back though at the look in the older hunter's eyes at the mention of Dean being dead.

Sam felt John move and blocked him again, locking eyes with the target of his father's frustration. "My brother is not dead. Please, we'll sign any disclaimer that you need, take any precautions that you require, just let us look. Give us an hour, anything. Please."

"I'm sorry I can't. It isn't my call to make." The man turned to walk away but John reached round and dragged him back.

"Then get the person who's call it is." The calmness in his father's voice scared Sam more than the shouting of minutes ago had. He turned and stared into the blank mask that was John's features. "Now."

The tone of the word had the official reaching for his phone and stepping towards the two officers that had now joined them.

"Problem?," the older cop asked as he sized up John and Sam.

"No officer, I was just telling this _nice_ man here that my son is still alive under there," John watched the cop's eyes widen, "..he called us. I want back on to finish looking for him."

"I'm just calling to see if I can get permission." The official stopped as the cop took his phone and killed the call.

"D'you know where your boy is?"

John nodded. "We've spoke to him on the phone less than an hour ago. He's in the parking level…." His voice tailed off as the cop and the official exchanged a look. "What?"

"D'you know what part of the level?"

"We can show you but he's near where we were digging already." John went to step forward but the cop stopped him with a hand.

"Think you'd better prepare yourself before we go round to the site." The man stepped back and motioned John and Sam to follow. "The gas explosion brought down the elevator shaft, what was left of it anyway….." They rounded the corner and stopped, Sam only realising that the strangled cry that broke the silence was his after it was out.

"No." John was moving forward, trying to take in the fact the tower had fell over where they had been digging, over where Dean was. "No," he repeated as he stepped onto the pile.

The hand stopped him. "I'm sorry, if your son was still alive under that, chances are he's been killed in the explosion."

John pulled his phone out and started to dial Dean's number, willing his son to pick up.

* * *

The dust was coming down, a little snowfall of grey flakes that caught in his throat and caused him to choke. After what seemed like forever he managed to get further onto his side and wriggle his hands free, realising as he did that he still had his phone and the flashlight gripped in one of them. He tried to get a signal again but the bars on the phone wavered in and out, refusing to let the call connect.

He cried out in frustration and also because of the pain in his leg that was building again, the medication now on the other side of the concrete that he was trapped behind. Shutting his eyes he wished briefly that the concrete had just killed him before he pulled the phone back up into eye line and started to try and call again.

* * *

The cop put a hand on John's shoulder, the grip not a restraining one but a small gesture of comfort. "They're talking about ending the search and rescue, just moving on to site clearance in the morning. If you're going to get your boy out, it needs to be now."

"How am I supposed to do that when they won't even let me on the damn pile to dig?" There was anger but no resignation in John's tone. He would not give up on Dean but the odds were starting to stack against him.

"Give me a half hour or so," the cop asked him, holding off the expected complaint with a hand. "I know, he might not have that long but I need time to get some more bodies organised. Most folks were sent home. Let me get the ball rolling and I'll come give you a hand to dig."

"But you can't…," the little official started, stopping when the cop growled at him and John moved up against him.

"There's a body been found so this is a crime scene, which means the law, that's me, has jurisdiction." He caught the little man's look at the Feds. "You go over there and get them to pull rank on me over this, and I'll leave your fate in this guy's hands." The cop nodded at John. "We clear?"

"Do what you like, you're going to anyway, but I want it made clear that none of this was authorised by me." The man picked up the bag that was lying at his feet and stomped off.

The cop turned to John. "Harris Woods." He held out his hand.

"John Winchester, this is my son, Sam." Harris acknowledge Sam with a touch to his hat.

"Well John, let's see about trying to get your other son out of there. One thing. If you smell gas or I tell you to get off, you get off. This shit is still unstable. I don't want anymore deaths here than there has already been. Understood?"

Both Winchesters nodded.

"Right, let's see what of this we can shift before the equipment guys get back here." He handed his phone to his deputy. "Robert, call in the off duty guys, the heavy equipment guys, and see if you can round up some of the fire fighters from the other side of the site, I know they're busy but tell them we might have a live one here." He shrugged off his jacket and pointed to the hard hats and the pickaxes that were resting on a nearby truck. "Ok, let's do this."

* * *

It felt like hours since the ceiling had come down and Dean knew he was fading, knew that if they didn't get to him soon then it wasn't going to be long before it would be all over.

It was warm where he was, so hot that he wished he had enough room to get out of his jacket but there was just not enough of a space to manoeuvre in. The heat seemed to be coming in under the car behind him, causing the sweat to drip from his brow. Just what he needed he thought as he fumbled with the buttons on the phone again, no longer sure that he was pressing the right ones.

They had been at it two hours and barely made a dent in the mound of concrete and twisted metal in front of them and John felt like he was dying. Dean was alive but John knew that every minute that it took them to get closer to him, was a minute more that Dean could be slipping farther away. He said a silent prayer to God not to take his son from him, moved closer to his other one and doubled his efforts.

She slipped in through the wall of concrete that Dean was facing, only just enough room for her to pull all the way through, her slender frame almost moulded to Dean's chest.

He was almost finished. She could see that. His hair was plastered to his head and the black bags under his eyes contrasted starkly with the too pale skin on his face. He already looks like a ghost was the thought that crossed her mind.

Dean watched as the ghostly figure wavered then strengthened again, panic seizing him at the thought that she was going to leave him again, that he was going to die on his own.

He cherished the sound of her voice when she spoke. "I can help you Dean."

The muscles in his hand tightened on the phone he held as she reached over, touching his chest, hand sliding inside, the coldness seeping into him from it almost a welcome relief. "Close your eyes Dean, relax and just let go, then you can be with me. All you have to do is just let go."

He dropped the phone down between them and turned his head away from her, looking up at the concrete above him. "No, please." His voice was weak, shaky but he was still fighting. Just. Reaching up he touched the roof of the prison that he was trapped in, arm passing through her as he did, fingers starting to slide across the conrete.

Pauline shifted, moved her hand. "Dean don't."

"Not here." He dug his nails into the hard surface, drawing blood on their first pass along it. "Not like this." The words became a chant as he somehow found the strength to pick up the pace and the pressure, the roughness of the concrete tearing his skin as she watched.

"Dean." Pauline reached up and tried but failed to still his hands. "Stop it. Don't."

He either couldn't or wouldn't listen to her. The ghost caught one hand, ripping it down from its task and back to his chest. "STOP IT!"

The shout was loud in the confined space and Dean finally paused, letting his head drop back round to look at her. She brought her face in close, wrapping her fingers round his hand. "Don't Dean."

He sighed, tightening his hand in hers. "Pauline." He was looking straight at her but she didn't think that he was really seeing her, his eyes had a fearful, lost look in them.

Stroking his hair softly she hugged herself to him, "I'm here Dean. You can come with me, we'll be together. It won't hurt, just let go."

He said something that she couldn't hear and she lent in and asked him softly to repeat it, wishing she hadn't when he did.

"Don't let me die here. Not the way that they let you die."

Something tore inside Pauline, the pain and fear in Dean's voice tugging at her core.

"Please."

He started to scratch at the ceiling above him again and she broke. Unable to watch him she reached over and gently pressed her lips to his face.

"I'm sorry." Then she was gone.

* * *

AN – I'll put you out of your misery in the next chapter! Promise.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Hey there another update, finally. The chapter you might have been waiting for! :)

Little John cursing in this one!

* * *

Bobby pushed the door to the motel room open, juggling the copy files that he'd managed to acquire from the AC company's office with one hand and his dinner and the key in his other. He let a heartfelt groan slip from his lips as he freed himself of his burden and his backside connected with the bed. Sitting he pulled his boots from his feet and fell back. "I'm too old for this shit." He loosened his tie and dropped it on the floor, reaching into his pocket and checking his phone again, the way he had compulsively been doing for the last three hours. He hadn't any missed calls.

Sighing he pulled himself upright again and snagged the bag and his notebook from the floor, sliding back until he was resting against the headboard.

Unable to sit and just stare at his phone he had visited the offices of the architects and interviewed a couple of the staff, cursing as he found that he'd been beaten to the main records by the real Feebies. The AC company however had produced better results. The offices has been closed with the discovery of Pauline's body and the cops had been working on the files there, so with the help of some slightly rusty skills Bobby had liberated Pauline's files from her desk.

He opened the first file, pulled a sandwich from the bag and started to read only glancing occasionally at the phone lying next to his left leg.

* * *

Sam cursed as the sharp piece of metal in the concrete that he was lifting sliced into his glove and straight into his hand. He chucked his burden to the side, ripping his skin further and pulled a cry from his lips.

John was on him in an instant. "What did you do?"

"Didn't see the metal, I ripped my glove, it's nothing." He tried to pass off the injury but John was having none of it.

"Gloves don't bleed. Take it off."

Sam huffed but he couldn't hold back the hitch in his breath as he slipped his hand clear of the material. There was a long ragged gash across his palm, not too deep but still deep enough. "Go get it seen too," John dismissed him and then turned back to the dig.

"But I….." Sam started but was cut short.

"But I nothing, get it cleaned, get it stitched and then get back here. I can't deal with you demanding my attention just now Sam, Dean needs me." With that his father turned his back on him and moved back to clearing the rumble.

"Sonuvabitch. Wasn't demanding anything," Sam grumbled as he cleared the debris field and headed for the first aid tent. The nurse there cleaned and bandaged his hand, the cut not deep enough to need stitched after all. He picked up his gloves and started to pull them back on.

The nurse stopped him. "You'll only open that back up if you go back out there."

Sam shrugged. "My brother' is under there." He pushed by her and started to head to the dig site only for the cold hand to his bare forearm to stop him dead, a little gasp escaping him that was part shock, part reaction to the coldness.

"I'm sorry." Pauline tilted her head. "I don't want to be left alone but I can't…" She raised her hands to her head. "He wouldn't stop, I asked but he wouldn't."

"Pauline?" Sam moved round so that he was facing her. "Dean's still alive?"

"He won't stop it and he asked me and I can't not help him." Big pleading eyes met his hazel ones. "They didn't help me, no one did but Dean found me, told me he wouldn't let me get left behind. I can't not help him." She dropped her hands to her sides and started at him. "Why wouldn't he stop?"

Sam warily placed a hand to her shoulder, pleased that it rested there instead of passing right through. "What wouldn't he stop?"

"He was trying to claw his way out, the way I clawed, but it doesn't help. You still can't get out. I couldn't stay. I couldn't watch. He wouldn't stop."

Sam pushed away the mental image that her words brought up, tried to stay calm, calm her. "Is he hurt?"

She nodded. "His leg's hurt." Pauline turned to look over the site again. "He's dying. He doesn't want to."

"Then don't let him." Sam resisted the urge to shake her, instead he turned pleading eyes to her. "Please help us Pauline. I promise too that we won't leave you behind. That we'll help you find some peace. Just help me save him."

"Help me find peace?" The look was cold. "No one saved me."

He pushed the hair back off his face. "You're dead Pauline and I'm sorry, really I am, but there is nothing I can do about that except help you move on. I will help you move on Pauline."

"They need to be punished. For what they did." She waved a hand over the site. "I mean, LOOK at what they did! I warned them."

"I know you did. They will be punished Pauline, trust me. My dad and I, we can do that. We will find out who and why. Stop them hurting anyone else every again." He paused, wiping at the tears on his face. "Pauline please, Dean still has a chance, if you help us. Please don't let them kill him too." Sam could see his father look up, peer at him for a moment and then start their way. "Where is he Pauline?"

She turned to him, her hair blowing in a breeze that either wasn't real or he was just too numb to feel. "I'll show you."

* * *

Dean had stopped clawing, the effort too much to keep it up for long. He desperately wanted something to drink, the dust and the heat in the air irritating his throat, causing a dry, hacking cough which in turn sent starbursts of pain into his head. He fumbled for the phone again, blindly stabbing at the numbers, not able to focus on who he was calling, just trying to connect with the outside world.

John could see the figure standing next to Sam, knew who it was. He started in that direction, seeing that they were deep in conversation, knowing from his son's demeanour that Sam was pleading his brother's case. He was almost at them when two things happened simultaneously. She vanished and his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He yanked it free, connecting the call with trembling hands as he read the name on the display. "Dean?"

The silence hung at the other end, but John knew he was there. "Dean? Can you hear me?" He raised a fist to his mouth as he heard the voice that he'd worried he never hear again, weakly answer him.

"Dad?"

"It's me Dean. I'm here. We're almost to you son." He didn't know if it was a lie or not but he had to hope.

"Hurts."

That one word chilled John. Dean was admitting to pain. That so wasn't good. John was aware of Sam moving in beside him, his ear almost pressed to his own.

"Dean we're coming. Just hang in there ok?"

"Dying. So hot." The voice was weaker, harder to hear.

"Dean son, stay with me." He looked up and wiped at his face, catching site of the ghostly image of Pauline hovering not far from where they had been digging. The others he realised has stopped, were standing staring at the apparition in front of them.

"She knows where he is, I don't think that she's playing us this time." Sam's voice made him turn.

"I'm still here Dean, we coming for you," John reassured into the phone and then spoke to Sam. "You sure?"

"His son nodded and that was all the confirmation that he needed. He handed the phone off to Sam. "Keeping him talking, he sounds bad, do not let him stop talking, even one word is better than nothing." John walked over to the others, noticing the position that Pauline was standing at, watching as she faded before their wondering eyes. "We're digging there." They were still staring past him at the spot where the ghost had been. "HEY!" He clapped his hands drawing their attention back to him. "Get your fingers outta your asses and help me clear this." He climbed to where she had been standing and started to move the rubble, grateful as Frank came up beside him.

"Was that a ghost?" he asked as he took the piece of concrete from John and shouted to the guy behind him to pay attention before passing it off.

"Yeah." John heaved other boulder of rubble from the pile.

Frank shrugged. "Never seen a ghost before, she wasn't what I expected."

John stopped for just a moment, a little smile forcing it's way onto his face. "They never are."

"So we're moving to dig here why?" He took the piece and moved it along the line as he spoke

"This is where Dean is."

"She tell you that?" Frank asked a little mixture of scepticism and wonder in his voice.

"She did. Now can we shut up and get this moving?" John passed him another piece.

Frank mock saluted. "Yes sir."

* * *

"Dean?" Sam could hear his brother's laboured and pained breathing and for once it was the sweetest sound ever, signalling that at least Dean was still here, still alive.

"Sam?" The voice was quiet and he had to strain to hear it over the noise of the site but he didn't dare move further away in case the signal dropped again.

"Dean, it's me. Dad's coming for you Dean. He's almost there. You just need to hang on a little bit longer for us. Please Dean, just hang on."

The dust was starting to fall again, clouding his vision and choking him, filling his air supply with crap that felt as though it was melting onto his lungs.

"Sam?" He forced the word out.

"I'm here Dean, I'm here."

Confusion filled Dean. _Sam shouldn't be here. He should be at college, sitting exams, picking up girls. Why was he here?_ Bobby must have called him, told him. _He's had to leave college to come rescue your sorry ass Winchester. He shouldn't be here. Not right. Sam got out. Can't. Can't be here. My fault. _He realised that his brother was frantically calling his name and he tried to response but it came out more of a fractured groan.

"Dean! Come on man, stay with me. Talk to me!"

Sam's frantic tones pierced the veil around him. "Not going….." He was stopped by another coughing fit, his body's effort to clear his lungs hampered by the swirling debris that replaced what he managed to heave out. He felt the world grey and wasn't sure if it was more dust falling or if he was finally running out of air. The coldness hit him, Pauline's face appearing through the gloom, pausing inches from his own. _Jig's up, ghosty is back to finish it. _He shivered as her lips touched his, her hands coming to rest on his face. _Do what you want, hurts too much. _The debris was falling now like the rain in a tropical storm, straight down, blinding in its intensity. He risked a deeper breath and was surprised when it didn't start off another coughing fit. Then it hit him. She was channelling the fresh air to him, somehow bringing it down to him through the muck that swirled and enveloped them. She wasn't kissing him, she was breathing for him.

Dad's voice sounded again, louder this time, closer. A beam of light slid across the lids of his closed eyes and he struggled to open them only to have to shut them again against the twin onslaught of light and dust that felt as if it was trying to blind him. _Dad's voice? _The thought hit him just as he heard John call his name again and the pressure of Pauline's lips on his disappeared.

"Dean!" The light vanished and he panicked briefly that they'd left him but then he could hear John speaking again, just not to him this time. "I can see him! Help me move this! Get the paramedics over here. Yes he's alive, damn it!"

_Poor bastard. Glad it's not me he's screaming at. _"Dean! Open your fucking eyes and look at me!" _Ok, so now he is. _Dean flicked his eyes opened again, cursing internally as he did and then had to close them again.

"Dean, open your eyes kiddo." John's voice changed to pleading.

_That can't be good. Must look like shit. Stop shining the freaking light in them if you want me to frigging look at you! _He felt the light move away from his face and tried again. _You a mind reader now or did you just realise that you were blinding me? _His father's upside down face was hovering behind his own and he had to tilt his head back to look at him. The movement took every little bit of energy that he had left. That meant that his eyes drifted closed against his will.

"Jesus Christ Dean, keep your damn eyes open. Please?"

He tried again, couldn't.

There were other voices, a discussion of getting him out and then he heard the words 'pull' and 'lift' and he wished he could ask them to 'please don't do that' but he couldn't and frankly he couldn't care less. _Out, out, out._ The word circled in his thoughts. Hands touched his shoulders, poking him and prodding. _Just get me the hell out, don't freaking care if it hurts! Out, out, out. _There were arms in beside him now. He was lifted slightly, something looped under his arms_,_ he tried to help but couldn't. Then they started to pull and his foot caught briefly on something and then jarred free, shooting white hot agony up his leg and that was it. Good night Vienna. Lights out.

John watched as they wrestled the unconscious form of his son from his concrete coffin and out into the evening air. "Watch his leg," one of the paramedics cried and then with a final twist and a little bit of cursing Dean was pulled free. Sam beat him to it, pushing one man aside to drop to his knees at his brother's head. John let Sam take point for now, sure that if Dean could hear he would respond more to that voice than his. He reached into his pocket and got his phone, dialled the number.

"Well?" The worried tones of his friend finally broke through the steely resolve to be strong. His voice cracked as he spoke. "We found him."

Bobby took the emotion in John's voice the wrong way. "No. He ain't. He can't be."

"Bobby? He's alive." John wiped at his cheeks with the back of his hand. "My boy's alive."

"Son of a bitch, you scared the crap outta me there John! How is he?"

"Breathing." It was all John cared about. Everything else they could fix.

I'll meet you at the hospital." The connection died and John knew that Bobby would be out the door and on his way before he could stow his phone back in his pocket.

He whispered the words again, quietly, just to let it finally sink home. "We found him. My boy's alive."


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Finally got my act together and got another chapter written of this. It's such a straight forward chapter but it has been a bitch to write! Couldn't get the part with Dean to do what I wanted, this is a close as I could get after what seems like a million re-writes! Also changed what I was going to do with John and Sam which didn't help matters.

Day 11

Bobby eyed John, took in the foot tapping out a beat on the floor and the strain on his friend's face as they waited to hear how Dean was and an evil little part of him was glad that the man was so worried. _Damn well serves you right!_ that little part silently chided the man sitting across the room from him.

That part however was warring though with the thought that Dean being injured was Bobby's fault, he'd brought Dean in on this and if anything happened to him, well the old hunter knew that he'd never forgive himself. His attempt at helping Dean had only caused the boy more pain, and for that, Bobby was truly sorry.

Still, at least it had finally brought his family crawling out of the woodwork.

Sam shifted in the seat across from them, catching Bobby's eye with a baleful look before he looked at the clock and sighed. John brought his head up from staring at the floor. "What's your problem?," he snapped.

Wide eyes met his and Bobby glared him a warning before the younger Winchester replied. "Nothing. Just why is it taking so long for someone to come and tell us anything?" Sam stood and started to pace the room.

"Why, something you need to get back to?," John asked bitterly.

Sam's mouth dropped open his face creasing into a scowl. "Pardon?"

"You heard me, some place else you'd rather be than sitting here waiting to see if your brother's alright?" There was a challenge in John's voice, his worry manifesting itself in an ugly way.

"You son of a bitch." Sam stood and crossed the floor. "Don't you have a go at me because you're feeling guilty about leaving him on his ass. When I went to college, I asked him to come but he wouldn't, _'cos_ _Dad needs me_! Didn't need him for long did you? Where did you go that Dean couldn't have gone with you?"

"Enough!" Bobby stepped in seeing the danger sign in John's face. He pushed Sam back and down into his seat and put a restraining hand on John as he tried to stand. "You both abandoned him for your own selfish desires and needs and chewing each other out about who is the bigger asshole here isn't gonna help Dean one little bit, especially if you get your backsides thrown outta here and you ain't with him when he comes round and needs you to be." He took a deep breath. "So, you boys are gonna sit here quiet until they call us and then you're gonna go in there and make nice with each other for Dean's sake. If you don't, I won't be responsible for my actions. Do I made myself clear?" Two sullen faces glowered at each other and then at him. "I'll take that as a yes then." He lowered himself into the chair and handed Sam ten dollars. "Go get us all some coffee."

"Fine." Sam took the money and headed off.

Bobby lent forward and caught John's eye. "I'm warning you, lay off him. If you two get into it Dean'll know because that boy…," Bobby pointed after Sam, "… can't hide anything from his brother and I ain't letting either of you upset him. You both have managed that enough already."

Two Days Later

_The ceiling was moving closer to him. The huge slab of concrete appeared to be sliding down towards him, crushing the car as it went, grinding its way past it. He raised his hands and tried to halt its progress but it was relentless in its approach, forcing his arms to buckle under its weight and his hands to drop against his chest. He tried one final time to push against it and failed. He couldn't breathe but strangely enough he found that he could still scream. So he did. _

Dean jerked awake. There was still pressure on his chest and he fought against it, struggled to free himself. It was then that he realised that despite the pressure, he could still breathe. And that the ground beneath him was soft.

His brain finally registered the pressure as hands just as it recognised the smell in the air around him. He was out. He was in the hospital. Some of the little pieces slipped into place as he fought his way back to a cleaner surface than the one that he'd left. The hospital was a fore given. There was the all too familiar stench of antiseptic in the air and the feeling of his two favourite torture devices in the world, the cannula under his nose and the damn IV in the back of both hands. There were also a few other tubes in places that he'd rather not think about. Awesome.

His leg was elevated and he tried to open his eyes to see how bad it was but his long lashes betrayed him, the sleep feeling like glue on them.

"Dean? Son? You with us?"

He tried his eyes again, suddenly wanting visual back up that Bobby was there with him. This time he managed to crack open one of them to reveal his dad and Bobby sitting ashen faced at the side of his bed.

"Hey. Had us worried there for a bit kid." It was Bobby that spoke again, reaching past John and taking Dean's hand, laying it down on top of his own and then sandwiching it carefully with his other one.

Dean managed both eyes this time, registering that his brother too was hovering at the other side of the bed looking like maybe he should be the one that was lying down. A small smile skimmed Sam's lips when he saw him looking at him but Dean didn't acknowledge him, his head still struggling to get in the game and Sam's smile slipped into a frown as his brother turned back to Bobby. Bobby he knew at least was real.

There was a floating feeling filling him that he wasn't sure that he liked or the way it caused a cold little sliver of angry to dance along his skin as the sight of the concerned looks on his family's faces. Somehow this irked him more than it comforted. _Why are you here?, _he wanted to shout at them. _Don't leave me, _he wanted to tell them.

There was something causing him to feel like this he realised, his usually tight leashed and hidden emotions bobbing dangerously near to the surface. He kept his eyes on Bobby, trying to use the older man's presence to help fight the war and confusion that was raging inside. "What happened?"

The question aimed solely at him, Bobby moved forward and helped Dean wet his lips and throat with some water as he answered the younger man. "It collapsed. The whole bloody thing came down Dean with you under it." Bobby smiled fondly. "Damn near gave me a heart attack kid, thought I'd lost you for a while there."

"Why?" Dean tried to sit but Bobby easily pushed him back with a hand.

"Stay. We're still trying to figure that one out."

"We're?" Dean asked, casting a glance round the room, eyes taking in but not settling on John or Sam who exchanged a worried look.

"Sam's been doing some research while you were out, lot of things that don't fit like they should." Dean turned his head to stare at his brother as Bobby spoke, flicking his eyes back to the older man and then onto John. His brow creased. He whispered something and the older hunter bent nearer, not able to catch the softly mumbled words.

Bobby picked up the glass and gave Dean another small drink, watching him struggle to swallow round the tube that was in his throat. He leant closer. "Didn't catch that Dean."

"Am I dreaming or is it the drugs?" Dean repeated, quietly pulling out the words. "Maybe I really am dead."

Not sure that Dean was actually talking to him the hunter still answered, not liking the way Dean didn't see to be able to focus on him fully. "Might be the drugs, they've got you on the good stuff. You messed your leg up pretty good. Why would you think you were dead?" Concern now laced the confusion as Bobby shot a quick look at John, then back to Dean, noting that the boy was now staring at his father.

"Well," he coughed the word out, had to take two slow, deep breaths before he could go on. "I could swear that my dad and my brother are both here," his eyes flicked back to Bobby, "in the same room, at the same time, and I know that that ain't happening so," he paused, coughed again, and then spoke before Bobby could answer him. "I must be dead. Right?"

There was something dancing deep behind Dean's eyes, confusion or mischievousness Bobby wasn't sure which, that made him want to laugh. It was only the seriousness of the younger man's tone that stopped him. "More like living the dream Dean," he answered. "They're here, they're real."

"Real?"

Bobby nodded. "They're real."

Dean looked at his brother and then back to John, emotions running unfettered through him thanks to the drugs. "Well then, what would either of you have done if it had of killed me?" He'd raised his voice and it set him off coughing again.

"Easy kiddo." Bobby sat him up further, let Dean lean on him as he glared at his father.

Catching his breath Dean started to speak again, quieter this time. "Salt and burned me and cried a few tears over the fire and then got back to your own lives?" Dean had to cough again, his throat burning as deeply as the hurt was. "If I hadn't been with Bobby you wouldn't even know that something had happened to me at all. Probably wouldn't have cared." Dean ignored the way his father's face froze over, and Sam stepped back as if slapped. He turned back to Bobby. "When can I get out of here?"

"Leg's in plaster Dean, they're talking about maybe having to operate." John spoke this time, crossed his arms over his chest and assessed his son. "Your not going anywhere for now." Dean swallowed nervously as his father stepped round Bobby and lent in. "I ain't going anywhere either." He sorted Dean's pillows as he spoke. "Not until I can take you with me."

"Why? Didn't take me last time." Dean asked bitterly, his voice a croak now. He leant back on the pillows and closed his eyes. _What are you doing?_, his head asked itself as he desperately started to fight the effects of whatever they had given him and get himself back under control.

That seemed to floor John, really kicked him where it hurt and Bobby had the urge to add his agreement to Dean's words but he stilled his mouth. He wasn't family and John was pigheaded enough to get him kicked out if he felt like it. That wouldn't do Dean a lick of good, he needed someone to help him deal with his pain, both kinds, and Bobby really didn't think Sam or John would be the best ones to do that.

This wasn't the Dean talking that he had spent the few days before the collapse with, the compulsive phone checking one. This was drunk dial Dean, the one that was usually leashed somewhere deep down inside and it was obvious that the boy needed help putting the reins back on.

Squeezing the hand he was holding Bobby watched as John brushed Dean's hair back from his forehead, fingers gently crossing the bandage there before breaking the uncomfortable silence. "You're running a little hot there and the painkillers are screwing with your head Dean, think you should just rest up for a bit longer. Go back to sleep. We'll be here when you wake up. I promise."

John thought that Dean moved ever so slightly into his touch so he left his hand there, gentle stroking one son's hair as he cast a quick glance to his unusually silent other son. "You ok?"

Sam just nodded, hugging his arms round himself, eyes dropping to examine the floor.

His dad leant forward and pressed the call button and then they stood there in silence until the nurse arrived at the door. "He's awake," John informed her.

"That's good. I'll go fetch the doctor and we'll get him checked over." She paused. "I'm sorry but it's really only meant to be two to a bed, one of you will have to wait outside."

Bobby moved. "I'll go." He went to free his hand from Dean's when he felt the young hunter's fingers squeeze his own. He looked down at the now opened and troubled eyes of the boy on the bed.

"Don't you leave me." It was a quiet, impassioned plea that cut something deep inside the gruff old man. He hated that Dean was so open and the feelings that he normally kept locked down were almost spilling out over the sheets.

"I'll go." Sam headed for the door, not stopping or turning even when he reached it.

Bobby waited, sure that Dean would call his brother back but he didn't, he just closed his eyes and sighed. The older man mirrored it.

This was going to be fun to put back together.

Sam was in the visitors' room when John came in, head down in a folder that was part of the paperwork from the AC company. He hovered for a minute, tried to get his head in order, before he moved over and sat down.

"Hey, you ok?," he asked as he picked a piece of the paperwork up and pretended to be interested in it.

"He's going to be ok, that's all that matters. I don't care if his pissed at us, he has a right to be." Sam shut the folder and leant back into the chair.

"He's confused, tired and hurting Sam. He didn't mean it."

"Maybe not, he's still right though." He reached out and slid the file at his father. "I found something. The paperwork and the plans here, some of it doesn't match up with what Bobby's friend gave him. I called Jim and asked him were he got his copies. He told me he liked to keep a history of the place, he has boxes of press cuttings and some of the plans for other alterations that have taken place over the years. Seems that Grant Thomson, one of the guys that quit, gave him copies of the plans and a few other bits and pieces before he went. I checked. They don't match with the plans that were submitted and signed off on."

"So they changed their minds after he left. Didn't Bobby say that changes to the AC was a last minute addition?"

"The plan numbers should have changed. You know version 2 or whatever. They didn't and neither did the sign off dates. They didn't altered the plans, they replaced them. I've got figures and weights here for the new roof units, if they placed these units onto the alterations that they originally made, the weight would have been too much for the columns to support. This place was always going to come down, it was just a matter of when."

John looked up at his son, face grim. "Why didn't they just fix it?"

"Cost. They would have had to put in more supporting columns and that would have cut the retail places and cost them hundreds of thousands in lost revenue. On top of that, the mall would have had to have been shut for safety reasons while the remedial work was done, more money in lost revenue and they would probably have to have paid the shops compensation on top of that. So they chose door number two. They took a gamble and lost. I even wonder if the original work would have been up to code, seems that they have fingers in a lot of pies here. Must have to have gotten this all through."

John sat quietly. "You're sure about this?"

"I called and got a friend at Stanford to check my calculations. He agrees. It was always in danger of collapsing."

"And they knew?" Sam eyed his father warily, unnerved by his tone of voice.

"Yeah, they knew. Probably thought that it would stand for a few years. The new plans don't show anything untoward and with it being insured….they couldn't lose."

"I want the names of all of the people involved."

"There are a lot of holding companies…it could take a while."

John grinned coldly at him. "That's ok. I've got a college smart kid and one that's tied to a bed whose going to have to have something to do to keep his mind occupied. Between you both, I'm sure that you can work your way up the ladders and back down the snakes. I want the top snake."

"What are we going to do with him or her when we find them?"

His father wouldn't look at him but his voice chilled Sam when he spoke. "He or she almost killed my son for nothing more than some extra bucks in the bank, hell they did kill a boat load of other people. What do you think I'm going to do with them?" Not waiting for an answer John stood. "I'm going back to check if they're finished with Dean. You coming?"

Sam hesitated, looked down at the paperwork and then back at his dad. "I've got a few more things I need to check here, tidy this away."

John put a hand down on Sam's shoulder. "He needs you Sam. Might not seem like that at the moment but he does. After you left…,"he squeezed Sam's shoulder, "….it wasn't pretty. That's why…I thought that if I gave him some space that he'd be able to, not sure what I want to say here, ….grieve his loss is the phrase that springs to mind. I…..I'm not the one that can help him heal here. He misses you Sam. Don't let him pretend otherwise. Come through when you're ready."

Sam cleared the paperwork up and back into the box that Bobby had fetched from the motel room and took it down to the car, needing the few minutes doing the mundane task to steady his nerves before he walked back inside and went to speak to his brother.

**Chapter End Notes:**

Until next time, thank you again for reading and sticking with this, Mary xx


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Me again!

Another little twist and turn chapter!

Enjoy, Mary x

Day Twelve

Bobby was outside Dean's door when John walked down the corridor, his head down, lost in thought. The man was so focused internally that he almost didn't see the other hunter until he was right on top of him. Lifting his eyes to meet Bobby's, John smiled a half smile. "You get kicked out?"

"Yeah. They're doing some tests and getting him cleaned up. Told him I wouldn't go far." The older hunter lifted his cap and scratched at his head. "Is Sam okay?"

"He's…just being Sam," John replied. "Tidying up the research and taking it out to the car. He'll be up in a minute or two. Dean talking like that, well, it's thrown him. Dean was always the one that was alright with Sam being at Stanford."

Bobby sighed. "He still is, but a little call every now and then to check that he was still breathing would have helped."

John felt the dig aimed at him in the words. "If I'd have called he'd have wanted to come join me. It was too dangerous." John laughed bitterly and looked at the door to Dean's room. "I didn't want him hurt."

"Depends on what your definition of hurt is John, Dean's never minded the physical pain much, it's the other stuff that your son don't handle well."

"He's lost a lot of weight," John replied skilfully changing the subject and causing Bobby to huff slightly.

"Yeah, not getting to eat for six days'll probably do that, not that he was eating much before that, liquid lunches ain't exactly gonna get you fat."

"How bad was he?" John turned his head away as he spoke, eyes drawn to Sam appearing at the end of the corridor.

"Bad enough for me to drag my ass around after him for a month. Nearly stepped in a couple of times, but you know Dean. If I'd have pushed, he'd have pulled. That's why I took this gig in the first damn place, to get an in without looking as if I was checking up on him."

"Thanks." John reached a hand out and squeezed the other man's shoulder shocking Bobby into a stunned silence that was only broken as the door behind them opened.

The doctor appeared just as Sam finally joined them. "Gentleman. Mr Winchester, can I have a word?"

John looked at the door and then back to the doctor.

"I'll just keep you a minute. Some things that we need to discuss moving forward."

Sighing the elder Winchester nodded and turned to Sam. "You going in with Bobby?"

Sam hesitated then nodded. "Yeah. I'll sit with him until you're done."

John walked off with the doctor and Bobby pushed the door opened. "Ladies first," he smiled at Sam and laughed as the boy flipped him the bird before walking in the door like the condemned man walking to the gallows.

Dean looked paler than he had before they'd left, eyes rung with dark circles but he looked more alert, more Dean.

"Hey boy, you finished being manhandled by this fine lady here?," Bobby quipped as he sat down on one side of the bed and watched as Sam settled on the other.

"She's mean." Dean managed a half-smile and then started to cough again.

"Yes I am. He is not to talk too much. Breathed in a lot of dust and debris that's irritated his throat. I'll be back in an hour to check on him." She patted Dean's hand and stepped away.

"So kid, you a little bit more with us now," Bobby asked as he leant down on the edge of the bed, "cause you were a little bit out of it when we were in here before."

"Hate drugs," Dean moaned. "Mess my head up."

"I know, but that leg's gonna hurt like a bitch when they ease back on them."

"Already have, asked them to." Dean looked down at his plastered limb. "What did I do?" The doctor had ran it by him but his head had refused to take it in.

"It's broken, docs wanted to operate but they didn't think you were up to them doing that right now. They manipulated the bone back into place but they're gonna look at it again, make sure that everything's where it should be. They did talk about traction…."

"No way," Dean raised his voice and started to cough again. Sam moved to get the water that was on the cabinet, pouring a small glass and helping his brother drink it. Dean looked up, Sam's insides tugging painfully at his brother smiled at him. "Thanks Sammy."

"No problem." He placed the glass down and shuffled closer braving a question. "How are you feeling, apart from the leg?"

"M'ok." He looked at his brother and then Bobby. "Was dad here?"

"He's with the doctor," Sam provided.

"Thought I'd dreamt him."

"Nightmare?" Bobby joked and sighed internally. _Kid doesn't remember having a go at them._

"Something like that. What happened to Pauline?"

"She was the one that led us to you, eventually," Sam shuffled in the chair. "Haven't see her since we dug you out."

"We?," Dean asked, eyebrow raised.

"Sam and John found you," Bobby supplied. "Been digging since they got here, John threw a hissy fit when they tried to drag him off 'cos of a gas leak."

Dean turned and smiled gratefully at his brother. "Thanks for not giving up on me," he said and then frowned at the strained look on Sam's face and the hang dog expression that appeared, his words unintentionally wounding his brother this time. "What's wrong?"

Sam flushed but was saved from an answer as the door opened and his father stepped back into the room. Bobby saw the way that Dean tensed instantly, a little fight of flight reaction to his dad's presence, and frowned. "You okay kid?"

Dean didn't answer just watched as his dad walked over and stood at the foot of the bed before he found his voice. "So, will I live?"

John's face darkened a little, the quip too close to the conversation of before. "They think so. You feeling a little better?"

"U-huh," Dean mumbled and took to playing with the bed covers, the sight of his dad bringing vague memories of having already spoken to him in this room.

"We good?" John walked round behind Sam and laid a hand on his shoulder causing little alarm bells to go off inside Dean.

"Did I….did I say something?," he asked realising that he could feel the residual of the anger that had flashed through him earlier, knowing that he had put that look on Sam's face and kicking himself a little for it. He looked to Bobby and then John, aware that Sam had dropped his gaze to the floor and that there was an awkward feeling in the room.

"You might have been a little bit narky when you woke up earlier, nothing we didn't already know though," John answered, watching as Dean tried to think about what he'd said. The look he gave Sam said that he'd not come up entirely blank. He went to speak and John fended him off. "Don't, it's okay."

"No…I…" Dean stumbled over his words as the gist of what he'd said earlier leeched into his tired and struggling mind.

"Don't apologise," Sam said, moving closer to his brother. "It isn't you that should be doing that."

Bobby cleared his throat. "Okay ladies, we got into trouble last time about there being three of us here, so I'm gonna wait outside for a bit, let you boys talk." He looked down at Dean.

"You need me to stay?"

The younger man shook his head.

"Okay then." Rising to his feet Bobby headed for the door, stopping before he got there and turning. "You boys play nice now." His eyes rested on John who nodded slightly.

"I'm kinda tired," Dean said as he slipped down a little into the covers, trying not to move his leg as he did. His sibling and his father exchanged a look, Dean was already cruising down their favourite river. Denial. Avoidance 101 was about to get under way.

Sam threw himself in front of the boat. "I'm sorry that I never called you back after…," he didn't want to mention the drunk dial in front of John.

"….after I got sloppy drunk and called you out on not returning my calls?," Dean finished for him. "Doesn't matter Sammy, water under a very high bridge." His face was poker straight but the eyes were open and full of hurt. Sam wondered if Dean even realised that his boat was shipping water. He sat back, looked at his hands. "I wanted to, just I was busy, there was exams and then Bobby called and I hadn't spoken to you and he told me what had happened and I thought you were…you know…..and that I'd never get the chance to ever return that call. Wouldn't get to tell you I was sorry for being a selfish ass." It's all just excuses Sam thought as he blurted it out.

"Forget it Sam. Really. It doesn't matter. So," Dean added swiftly, "how far along are you guys in figuring this out?"

"Sam's done a ton of research while he was waiting for you to wake up, he was filling me in just now. Looks like we know why just not who."

"And?" Dean tried to shift on the bed again and let out a pain filled groan, his head falling back on the pillows, eyes screwing shut. "Sonuvabitch!"

Sam was up. "What did you do? Should I get the nurse?" Earnest eyes stared at Dean from under long bangs as he risked opening one eye.

"Easy tiger, just jiggled my leg a little is all. Keep talking."

"Looks like they started the refurbishment, realised that they'd hit a problem with their figures and costs and just kept going. Pauline must have seen something and they shut her up for it."

Light dawned over Dean's brain. "She did. She told me, something about not figuring the support columns to take the weight of the air conditioning units."

"You talked to her?," John asked, brow creased in worry.

"Yeah, she kinda stuck around with me, kept me company. Don't think she's quite all there mind you but still…..company's company. Know what I mean?" He didn't seem to register the dig but Sam tensed anyway.

John chuckled lowly. "Seems you won your bet there Sam."

"What bet?," Dean asked.

"Sam here said that she'd be with you, and that you'd probably be hitting on her."

Dean huffed. "Hey, even I have standards, besides, the lady is a little scary. I think at one point, she wanted to keep me in there. Didn't want to be left on her own, not that I can't relate to that." The last part was a slip and he scrunched his face up in disgust as he realised he'd actually put that out there.

Sam just sat there, worrying at the bracelet on his wrist while John glossed over it. "You're looking kind of tired there kiddo, what say you that we let you get some more rest?"

Dean grabbed the stick gratefully. "Yeah, you guys gonna go get some shut eye too? No offence, but you both look like something hell warmed over."

John laughed at that and even Sam broke a small smile. "We don't want to leave you."

"Nurse is gonna kick you all out any way. Probably move me now that I'm awake. Just go. I'll be fine. I'm a big boy, can manage on my own until you at least get something to eat." Dean yawned.

"Okay, we can take a hint," Sam managed to joke before he walked over and gently hugged his brother. He straightened up. "Visiting at five, that's only a couple of hours. Do you want anything brought back?"

"Something to read, and my Walkman and my tapes from the car, damn, the car's at Bobbys!" He huffed and then paid for it by choking for a few minutes.

Sam ran his hand through his hair. "I'll work something out about the music."

"No emo crap Sam, eh? Can you maybe get me something to drink, if you can get it by Attila out there."

"We'll _ask_ if it's okay." John gestured to Sam and they walked to the door together, Dean noticing that they fell into step as soon as they moved and that they turned almost as one at the door. _So much more like him than you know or want to be Sammy, more than me, _he thought as John spoke. "Get some sleep."

"Yes sir." He closed his eyes and did just that.

* * *

Pauline stood at the side of the bed watching him sleep, he looked so peaceful that she wanted to shake him, makes sure that he was still there, alive. The monitors above the bed confirmed that though so she let him be. "Don't forget me. You promised," she whispered as she kissed his face, frowning as he jerked in his sleep at the touch. "Please don't leave me behind."

She stayed there watching him until the nurse arrived and then she just faded from sight, moving to the corner of the room and hunkering down.

Waiting for him to wake up.

* * *

The man at the window didn't turn as the door to his office opened and the guy he had hired to clean up the trail of detritus that led to said door entered and threw himself into one of the leather wing back chairs. "You wanted to see me boss?"

"The police are crawling all over this. Who the hell's idea was it to hide the body in the damn building that we knew was going to collapse?" The man's tone was angry but his face and his mannerisms gave no hint to that as he stared coolly out of the window at the people passing by below.

His companion stretched out on the chair he was sitting on. "_Relax_, I told you, It's not like they're going to find anything in the files and paperwork that they've got, it was all pulled and changed at the time we took care of Miss Woods. It's not as if they can exactly look at the building anymore. The structural engineers that'll look at the pieces are ours anyway. I know we did expect it to last a little longer than it did but I've got this, don't worry….."

Sam Elliot, the man at the window's tone rose a little more as he turned to look at his companion. "Don't worry! Doesn't seem to me like you've got this."

Adam Calvert, his companion grinned over at him. "I've got connections in high places. This'll go away."

Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"Well not maybe in high places but the right places."

"I hope you have because her being found tied up and bloody in a box, **in the damn mall**, and Daye offing himself, doesn't scream tragic accidental collapse to me." The coldness of his tone chilled his companion. "And if this gets linked back to me, I am not going to be amused. Not at all."

Elliot turned and slumped down in the chair, his headache and annoyance at the casualness of the other man growing. "The chain stops lowered down, don't worry, besides, looks like we might have caught a break." Calvert hooked his leg over the arm of the seat and smiled at his friend on the other side of the mahogany desk.

"Break? What kind of break?" Sam Elliot pulled himself up from his slump and leaned on the desk, eyes glittering at his companion.

"I think I got someone to pin everything on if the cops get too close; the collapse and maybe even the murder. A few well placed extra pieces of wreckage, some articles added to the assortment of weapons that we found with him, people that have seen him in the right place; you know how it goes. Turns out that the guy was even working as a security guard for a couple of days. I couldn't have asked for more if I'd tried to frame him myself." He ran a hand over his pant legs smoothing the fabric. "Looks like we've got ourselves our very own Oswald."

Elliot's eyes sparkled with a dark light. "Interesting. Who's your fall guy?"

"Just some kid that they pulled out of the rubble…"

"What if he can produce an alibi?"

"What alibi, he was there when it fell, besides, if we have to use him, he won't be round long enough to need one."

"And the law?"

Calvert grinned wider. "Two of the feds are ours. Handily enough they're the ones with the guy's personal effects."

Elliot's face morphed into a soul sucking smile. "I knew there was a reason I liked you Adam."

**Chapter End Notes:**

More on Sam Elliot and Adam Calvert next. Thanks for reading, Mary x


	17. Chapter 17

Hey there, remember me? Here's a little update to this story that I did and forgot to post! That's were my head is at the moment, lol. Hope once the little un gets back to school my muse will get the peace it needs to get going on this and my other story. Thank you for sticking with me and forgive my lack of responses at the moment to your reviews, time is not my friend. I do however love and appreciate each one, which I am sure that you know but I just wanted to say it. Mary x

* * *

He woke to the feeling of being watched, opening his eyes expecting it to be John or Sam, maybe Bobby. Instead, it was two guys in dark suits, one either side of the bed. The one on his left had his head buried in a file and the other was just sitting there staring at him.

"You're awake. Finally," the guy that had been staring at him huffed, pulling a badge from his pocket as he did. "Agent Carson," he stated then pointed across to his companion, "that there is Agent Gregg. We've been waiting to talk to you, see what you know about the collapse over at the mall." There was an edge to his tone that lifted all the hairs on the back of Dean's neck.

"I was in it and it fell down," he offered with as much sarcasm as he could muster after waking from a dead sleep. "Apart from that, I ain't gotta clue what happened."

"Now, we all know that's not true Dean, I can call you Dean, can't I?"

_Don't try to be my friend,_ Dean thought. "Why don't you just tell me what the hell you're doing here and where my family are?"

"They're nearby. I'm afraid that they won't be getting in to see you at the moment, seeing as you're going to be helping us with our investigation into the collapse." Agent Carson threw a pile of photos onto Dean's lap. "Recognise this bag and the contents?"

Dean studied the photographs, recognising his duffle and some of the contents from it. He carefully eyed the other items that he knew he hadn't been carrying with him. "Can't say I do," he offered casually and held the photographs back out. "Why? Should I?"

"Why did you take a job as a guard there?" Carson's stare was eating into Dean's already busy brain.

"My uncle knew I was looking for work. He knows the guy that's in charge. He asked. I got." His leg was starting to get a little vocal and he looked for the call button, smiling grimly when he realised that the guy had pulled it clear of his reach. His temper flared with the pain. "Just what are you trying to accuse me of here?"

"Nothing." The cop answered holding his hands up in appeasement. "I just want to know why you had that bag of tricks with you. I mean, shotgun, handgun, torches, a sledgehammer….crowbar….just what war were you preparing for?"

"I told you, that stuff ain't mine. The bag ain't mine. I was in the car park, I heard the noise above me and I ducked and covered. That shit was lying there when I came round. Hell, I don't even have a car with me…."

"Then why were you in the car park?" Carson smiled coldly at him.

"Lady asked me to go down and see if I could get her car door opened. She'd locked the keys inside."

"What happened to her? There weren't any bodies found near you."

"I got the car door opened and she had already left before the building fell. Have I answered all your questions now, because I'm kinda tired and I need something to take the edge off the pain in my leg."

Agent Carson stared at him.

"What?," Dean growled at him.

"Just one last thing, this all happened so suddenly, how'd you get time to pull the fire alarm?" He leant in. "Change of heart? Guilt?"

"I pulled the alarm?" Dean looked at him blankly. "Sorry, don't even remember hearing the alarm going off, never mind pulling it, but then I did hit my head pretty hard. Things are kinda fuzzy."

They stood as one and turned towards the door. "We're going to send someone up to take your prints, see if we can't get a match to the items we found that way. If we do, you're gonna have some explaining to do." The agent walked back and squeezed Dean's bare foot causing him to shout out in pain. Chuckling Carson turned back to his companion. "Don't leave town. We ain't finished with you yet."

With that they were gone.

Dean bit down on his lip trying to ride out the pain that the Agent's action had caused, cursing him as he did. The sound of an argument drifted into the room from outside and Dean grinned through the pain. John's words were indistinct but the tone was loud and clear as he gave the cops what for. Dean closed his eyes, smiled and drifted off happily to the sound.

* * *

It was a cold hand to his forehead that woke him a little later. He opened his eyes to find his brother standing over him.

"Hey." Sam pulled his hand away, almost blushing at getting caught and sat back down. "How are you feeling?"

"Peachy. Were did Captain Happy and his sidekick go?"

Sam frowned at him.

"The cops? Guy was a real charmer."

"They left. Dad's gone to phone round a few contacts, see if he can't get you out of here. They left a local cop on the door."

"How'd you get in?"

"Jim, Bobby's friend? He knows the guy on the door, persuaded him that it would be okay." Sam smiled and Dean returned it.

Dean raised his eyebrows. "They put a cop on the door? Really?" He looked pointedly down at his leg. "Do I look like a flight risk?"

Sam snorted a little laugh. "I've seen you walking on worse. Just be thankful that they didn't think to cuff you to the bed."

"Give 'em time, I'm sure they're gonna, unless dad can spirit me away before then."

"You aren't up to moving anywhere at the moment, especially since you still haven't eaten properly in the last few days."

"I never eat properly, when has it ever stopped me before? Just need to get rid of a few tubes in unfriendly waters and I'm good to go. You're leaning on one of those tubes by the way."

It took a moment for Sam to register that he was indeed leaning on the tube for Dean's catheter. "God sorry."

"Think you can take that out?," his brother asked hopefully.

"You can't stand, you just gonna pee yourself until we can get something together to get you out?"

"Worth a try," Dean smile lazily back at him. "Do you really think they think I did that? Blew up the mall? Or do you just think that they're desperate for someone to take the hit for it?"

"Whoever caused this, they've covered their tracks pretty carefully, seems that Pauline was a slip. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Know how that feels," Dean replied ruefully. "Speaking of which, any sign of Pauline yet?"

Sam shook his head. "I went back down to the site on the way back to the motel, but she seems to have gone."

"Don't think that it's the site she's tied to any longer." Dean cocked his head to one side. "Does it feel kinda cold to you in here? I mean don't hospital's usually have you sweating buckets?"

Sam looked at him. "Do you think that she's here?"

Dean's answer was to call her name. "Pauline? Are you here?"

They sat looking at each other as the temperature slowly dropped around them, Sam tilting his head at Dean as the figure appeared in the corner. She smiled, eyed Sam shyly but didn't move.

"Hey," Dean said softly. "You're still here."

Pauline's smile faded. "I've nowhere else to go."

Dean exchanged a quick glance with his brother again. "That makes two of us."

"Someone's coming," she offered and they both watched as she disappeared before their eyes, only looking away from the spot when the door opened and Agent Carson walked in.

The man stopped in the doorway when he saw Sam sitting there and frowned. "I thought I'd made it clear that there were to be no visitors," he growled at the cop on the door.

The cop shrugged half-heartedly. "Yeah you did, but I don't answer to you."

Dean stifled a laugh as the Agent turned towards him, anger flashing in his eyes as he saw the younger man quickly hide his amusement. "Glad I gave you something to smile about." He threw the piece of paper in his hand down onto Dean's lap. "This might amuse you too. It's a warrant for your arrest. Your fingerprints are all over the contents of that bag that you know nothing about." He crossed his arms and waited.

"Well since I searched through it to see if there was anything in it I could use to either let people know that I was down there or to maybe get out, they would be. How'd you get my prints anyhow? I never gave you my permission."

Carson's smile widened. "Seems you've got a record. Got yourself arrested after a knife fight in a bar in Ohio three months ago?" Dean could see Sam head swivel to look at him but ignored him as the man continued to talk. "Charges where dropped but not until after they printed you and held you for the night. Besides, there's something else I'd like you to explain. If that wasn't your bag why was this in it and why does it have the name Dean Clancy but your photo on it?" He threw the plastic bag with the fake ID in it onto Dean's lap.

Dean just lay there looking at the photo, mind racing to find a way to get out of this bullshit rap. It came up as blank as the look on his face.

"Can't?" Carson asked as he moved forward and handcuffed Dean's wrist to the bed. "Thought as much. Now, the doctor tells me that I can't move you for now, detrimental to your health it appears but as soon as I can, you'll be in lock up." He turned to Sam. "And you need to leave, right now."

Sam went to argue but Dean's hand stopped him. "It's okay, just go. Leave that book though eh?"

He watched the confused look cross Sam's face before the light dawned. The younger Winchester pulled the book the he'd been reading from his jacket and smiled. "Don't loose my place now alright?," he smirked at his brother before turning serious. "We'll sort this."

"I know you will." Dean settled back on the bed, pulling gently at his cuffed hand and then looking up at Carson. "I'm tired now, can you leave?"

"There'll be an Agent outside from now on. No more visitors unless we approve them." He gestured to Sam and then followed the younger brother out the door.

Dean eyed the paperclip that was keeping Sam's place in the book. "Well at least I can get my hand free, even if I can't get out of here under my own steam," he mused as he closed his eyes and tried to think of a way out of this mess.

* * *

Elliot smiled as he took the phone call. Things were finally going to plan. The mall that he'd actually just wanted to demolish in the first place had conveniently fell down and as a double bonus they had someone's neck in the noose for it. Calvert also had moves afoot to ensure that their little patsy was never going to get the chance to plead his innocence in a court.

All in all, it had been a good end to an atrocious week. He opened the bottle of whiskey and poured himself a glass, swishing the amber liquid round a few times before he swallowed it down in one, enjoying the burn.

Yes, he thought, not a bad end to the week at all.

Dean watched as the two nurses he didn't recognise came into the room. One headed for his IV and the other opened and flipped through his chart. He slid his hand under the cover, not wanting them to see that the cuff was loose on his wrist. He tried to turn his head to see what the guy at the IV was doing but his back was to Dean blocking his view.

"Is there a problem?," he asked, shifting over nearer, senses on alert.

"Just checking the flow," came the reply.

The other man had moved to the bottom of the bed next to Dean's bad leg. The guy looked up and smiled at him, a slow predatory smile and Dean knew right there and then that he was in trouble. The groggy feeling hit seconds later confirming it and he watched as the man at his foot pulled out a syringe.

"What are you doing?" His words were slurred, head turning to look for the call button, realising that it was still out of his reach.

The guy at the drip turned and Dean tried to struggle as he put his hand over his mouth, pressing down as he did. "Sssh. This won't hurt. It'll be just like going to sleep, 'cept you ain't never gonna wake up again."

The other man uncapped the needle and Dean tried to struggle, to get his hands to work. The fog was already growing in his head and he was vaguely aware of the room going cold as whatever the first guy had given him kicked fully in.

He felt the needle slide into his skin and then the world faded away completely.

**Chapter End Notes:**

Horrid cliffie I know! More as soon as I can. Mary xx


	18. Chapter 18

Hi, once again sorry for the delay in updating, I actually though I had posted this and then realised I hadn't. That at least means that you get two for one as I'll post the next chapter as well today!

Thanks for all your patience and support. Mary xx

* * *

Day Fourteen.

"What do you mean that you don't know where he is? He was in your bloody custody!," John Winchester growled at the man before him. "His damned leg is broken! The docs told us that he wasn't well enough to be moved yet you're trying to tell me that my son got up, killed two male nurses, striping one of them, then disabled your man at the door and just walked out? On that broken leg no less! Is that really what you're saying here? Really!"

Agent Carson took a step back from the bear in front of him and gestured to the cops standing a little way off. "If you don't calm down, I'm going to have you removed," he stated with more confidence than he was feeling.

John got right up in his face, hand coming up to grip the man's tie and yank him in by it. "I'd like to see you try!," he spat out.

"John!" Bobby's hand came down on his friend's shoulders. "You need to calm down, before they toss your ass in jail and you're no use to anyone."

The elder Winchester took a deep breath. "You'd better find my son and he'd better be in one piece because if you don't it'll be you that's in the bed. Do I make myself clear?" His hand twisted the tie in it causing the other man's eyes to bug as his air was cut off.

"JOHN!" Bobby said a little more forcefully this time.

"Sam come on, we're going." John started for the door but the Agent stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"You can't leave."

John dropped his eyes to the fingers on his jacket and smiled coldly as the cop hastily removed them. Sam stepped in between them. "We let you keep Dean here because he wasn't fit to be moved anywhere. We can only think that someone has taken my brother and since he was effectively in your custody when it happened you'd better hope that he's found fit and well. As for the rest of my family you have no grounds to keep us. My father and I weren't even here when the mall collapsed and I can prove that before you ask. You've no grounds for detaining us." Sam looked to Bobby and he moved to flank John's other side. "Come on dad, we're leaving."

Agent Carson watched them walk away and then made the call he was dreading. "It's me. We've got a problem. The kid's gone, killed two of your guys and took my one out. I KNOW! Sorry. Yes. We'll find him. No one's going to believe his story anyway, even if he does live long enough to tell it." He shut the phone and leant back against the wall. This was it. After this, he was done. He opened his phone again. "It's Carson. I need you to raise an alert for me. Kid name of Dean Winchester, I got a photo that I'll fax to you to get out. Yeah, believed to be armed and dangerous." He paused. "Don't make it official but it's shoot on sight okay?"

* * *

Dean was cold. The tremors racking his body caused pain to follow the shivers from his leg straight to his chest. His head felt as if someone had stuffed it full of molasses.

"Dean?"

He tried to open his eyes but failed. It was just too much damn effort. "Just a little longer," he muttered.

Something really cold touched his face. "Dean please. Don't go back to sleep. I need you to wake up now."

That voice. There was something really familiar about it but he couldn't place it. It was female. Soft, coxing. His mind added two and two and got six. "Mom?"

"Dean!" The cold thing was on his shoulder now shaking him. "Dean. It's Pauline. Your scaring me. Wake up. Please."

_Pauline. Who was Pauline again?_ He searched his inner files and came up empty. Still the voice. He knew the voice.

"Dean!" Desperate edge in the tone now.

He managed to crack an eye. The image in front of him flickered and then grew strong.

"Hey." Pauline's face floated into view and suddenly it slammed home what had happened.

He sat up too quickly and fell off whatever it was that he was sitting on. Pain course up through him from his leg and he rolled over, tucking himself down to grip above his knee. A long agonised moan escaped him and he blacked for a second or two before getting a grip and managing to open both his eyes this time. He was lying on carpet and he was freezing.

Cold hands were on his arms then, lifting him and then laying him on what felt like a couch of some sort.

He looked up into her face and then it all started to slip back into place, all except where he was. "What happened?," he asked her.

"They tried to hurt you, I didn't mean to do it, I was just so angry." Pauline was almost vibrating in front of him.

Dean tried again. "Pauline, tell me exactly, what happened?" He asked the question as calmly as he could with the pain making his breath hitch through him.

"They put a needle in your foot, they were going to do something bad to you, I know it. I stopped them before they could do anything, pulled it free. I didn't mean it!" She was sobbing now.

"It's okay Pauline. I believe you." He wished he had something to drink, his throat was aching. It rebelled on him and sent him into a painful coughing fit.

"Dean." She moved in, reaching out to touch him but pulling back at the last minute.

"M'okay," he spluttered out, gently pulling himself up into a sitting position to ease the urge to cough more. "What did you do?"

"I wanted them to stop. I touched them." Pauline looked away. "They froze," she whispered. "I….I killed them."

Dean worked to keep the shock from his voice. "You what?"

"I touched their chests and I **_froze_** them. Their hearts stopped. I killed them Dean."

He reached out for her but she pulled away. "No."

"Pauline you won't hurt me. You're not angry at me. You helped me. You saved me."

She looked at him, hands crossed over her chest, hugging her arms. "After I…, " she hesitated, "…I saved you I had to get your out of there."

She spoke softly to her. "How did you get me out?"

"I went inside."

His brow creased in confusion. "You went inside?" The light was bright when it finally switched on in his head. " Wow, wait, are you saying….do you mean you possessed me?"

Pauline nodded. "We knocked out the guard, stole one of the nurses clothes. Then I brought you here."

Dean looked down at his black bare feet. "Shoes not fit?," he queried lightly, smiling as he did even though the effort was costing him.

"No," Pauline answered relaxing as he did, realising that he was neither scared nor angry at her. "You've got big feet."

Any other time Dean would have jumped in with the obvious retort to that but he was hurting and besides, Pauline was a ghost, there wasn't much point in flirting with her. _Another dead end relationship_. The thought rose unbidden and made him laugh out loud only for him to have to swallow it down when it caused a flash of pain in his head. "How did we get past the guard?," he asked getting himself back on track.

She smiled this time. "Look at your knuckles."

"You got me to hit him? I feel strangely violated."

"Sorry."

"No apologies, if you hadn't been there….." He shivered again, the lightweight uniform not helping shield him much from the cold that filled the room they were in. "Where are we?"

"My house. I didn't know where else to go." She looked at him. "Are you alright?"

"Just a little cold." He swung his good leg back off the couch and tried to follow the action with his other one. The pain that shot from his foot to his hip told him that maybe for now that was a bad idea. He stopped there, half on and half off the seat waiting until the pain eased and his heart wasn't hammering so hard in his chest anymore. "You got any blankets?"

Pauline nodded and disappear, literally, right in front of his eyes. Easing himself back down he allowed himself the liberty of a few cuss words before she came back with a couple of thick wool blankets. Thanking her Dean draped one round his shoulder and the other he asked her to put under his leg, using it to raise it slightly. "Take it your phone'll be off by now?"

"I think so, the power and the gas are, I tried."

Dean groaned, shifted to get more comfortable. "Can you go get my brother or my dad? They're at the motel on the outskirts of town." He struggled for a second to remember the name. "Anderson's?"

"I know it." She knelt down. "Are you going to be alright? What if they come after you again?"

Dean smiled. "They don't know where I am. I just need you to get them for me okay?"

She nodded once and then faded. He looked at the spot she been in for a few more minutes and then he let himself fade too.

* * *

Sam and Bobby watched as John paced the motel room floor, phone clamped to his ear, anger flashing in his eyes. "I don't care what you're doing, I want you down here now. You owe me more than a few favours and now I'm collecting. My boy's in trouble and I need some back up…yeah, that should be good enough. We're in Anderson's motel at the far end of the town." John snapped the phone shut and turned to his companions, both of whom resisted the urge to step back at the look on his face. "I got help coming, two or three of the boys. Something stinks about this and I aim to be read to get Dean out of here, by force, if need be. Sam I want you to stay here and go over this research with a fine toothcomb. I want to know why the mall failed and I want to know where the people that are responsible are. Bobby, you're coming with me, we can tour the area see if we can't get some clue as to where Dean is." He paused and ran a hand over his face. "I swear to go if they've took him or hurt him…..come on, let's go."

"Yes sir," Sam answered, sitting down and opening the first folder on the desk. Bobby took a look at him, surprised that the younger man hadn't fought the order to stay behind. There was an angry glint to his eye but it looked like even Sam knew better than to push John at the moment. The elder Winchester was at Defcon1, the finger on the button that would make the man go nuclear. Sam had clearly decided that he didn't want to be the one that pushed it. John was on a countdown and when it reached zero Bobby was sure that he didn't want to be in the blast radius either.

"Are you coming or not Singer?"

John's voice pulled Bobby from his musing and had his feet on their way to the door before his head had decided that's where he was going. John's tone was not one to be ignored. "You be careful here. They know where we are," he said to Sam as he reached the doorway and his waiting friend.

"That's alright, I got company." Sam held up his gun and rested it on the table next to him.

John smiled at his son and then grew serious. "If anyone tries to get in here, you shot first and ask questions later, you hear me?"

Sam almost managed to keep the shock from his face.

"They've killed someone already and God knows what they've done to your brother, you take them down if they come near here. Feds or not, human or not. Do I make myself clear?" John growled the command across the room.

His son nodded. "Crystal."

He waited until he hear the engine gunning in the carpark and then he picked up his phone. "Hey it's Sam, no I'm fine but my brother's in a spot of bother. I've got some questions that I need answers to, do you think you can help me, ask your dad?" Sam smiled as his college friend told him to email him what he was looking for and he would help any way he could, then he powered up the laptop and got down to work.

* * *

Pauline was outside the room, unable to enter because of the salt. She watched the young man working, face grim and determined, paperwork spread round him in untidy piles and yet she knew that he probably knew exact what was in each one and where to find anything he was looking for. It was her way of working too, organised chaos. Had been her way of working she thought sadly as she lifted her hand and wrapped on the door.

Sam jumped at the sound, admonishing himself for getting so engrossed in what he was doing that he hadn't heard a car or any approaching footsteps. John would kill him if he knew. Snatching the gun from its resting place he flicked the safety and crossed to the side of the door, sliding back the curtain on the window to see who was knocking. The cold hit him as he did, as did the knowledge of exactly who it was that had come calling.

"Pauline?," he asked tentively as he reached for the door handle.

"It's me. I need your help."

He swung the door wide, scuffing the salt with his foot as he did to allow her entry and then quick closing and locking the door behind her again.

"Do you know where Dean is?," he asked hopefully.

She nodded and he felt the tight knot in his chest that had been there all day ease a little.

"Is he alright?"

"His leg is hurting and he's cold. I took him to my house. I didn't know what else to do. They were going to hurt him like they hurt me."

Sam bristled. "What? How do you mean they were going to hurt him?"

"They had a needle. One of them put something in his IV and the other was going to inject him. I didn't mean to kill them, I just wanted to stop them hurting him."

Head spinning Sam held up a hand and asked the only thing that he cared about for now. "Dean's okay though?"

She nodded.

He sighed with relief. "That's all that matters then. Can you take me to him?"

"Yes."

Grabbing his jacket Sam headed out into the carpark, looking round to see if they were being watched. There was an old grey sedan sitting at the head of the carpark and it screamed tail, both it's occupants dressed in suits and trying to look like they weren't watching him as he exited the room and headed for the reception. Sam couldn't see Pauline but he could feel the chill of her presence. "Can you do me a little favour," he asked of her. "I need you to knock out the lights so that we can get out of here. Can you do that?"

The lights around him immediately started to dim and then flared once, growing so bright that Sam had to shield his eyes before the ones nearest to him exploded in a hail of glass and the carpark and the motel were plunged into darkness. "Can you see to get us out onto the road?" A cold hand clamped round his wrist and he was pulled forward until he was level with a screen of bushes that shielded the property from the road and Sam from the car that the two men were exiting from, flashlights in hand.

"This way." Pauline's voice drifted to him on the wind and he let her lead him down to an alleyway that ran between the motel and the car rental lot that sat next door. "Wait here." She stopped him next to a door that led into the office of the car lot and vanished. Hopping nervously from foot to foot he scanned the area, just waiting for the flash of light that told him he'd been discovered. His attention was drawn to a car just down the alley from him, parked almost behind the lot as it's indicators flashed and the headlights came on. Distracted by the car he squeaked as the flap on the key drop by the side of the door flipped out and a set of keys dropped at his feet. "Car's over here," he said into the quiet of the night, snatching the keys and running down the alley to the car Pauline had just unlocked.

Waiting until he felt the air around him cool, he put the car in gear and pulled out. A quick check over his shoulder to ensure that they weren't being followed and he pushed the pedal to the floor and let his ghostly companion lead him to his brother.


	19. Chapter 19

Second of two posted today. Enjoy! Mary xx

* * *

Day Fifteen

Sam picked the lock on the door and quietly entered the house. He closed it behind him stopping long enough to let his eyes adjust to the gloom before he headed down the long hall to what he hoped was the living room at the end. The house was cold, the damp, musty smell of disuse attacking his nostrils as he moved further in.

"Dean?" He tried a hesitant call of his brother's name.

There was no reply.

The temperature dropped and he watched as Pauline appeared in front of the doorway that he was heading to, her form almost glowing in the absence of any other form of lighting.

"He's in here." She stood aside to let Sam pass and then followed him into what had used to be her living room.

"Dean?" Sam tried the call again moving forward in the poor light from the street lamp outside to the gently snoring lump on the couch. His brother shifted slightly, groaned and then settled back down again with a grunt. "Dean!" Sam was a bit more forceful this time, moving in and kneeling next to his brother, shaking him with a hand to the shoulder. "Wake up dude!"

"Five more minutes," came the reply, causing Sam to smile. Unless there was a sense of danger Dean was the world slowest person at getting out of bed in the mornings; or off the couch in the evenings.

"Dean!"

"Sammy?" Green eyes slowly opened taking in the sight of his brother before him. "Man am I glad to see you. Where's Pauline?"

"Here." She moved round Sam, the ethereal glow from her providing them with a little more light.

"Help me up," Dean asked, stretching out a hand for his brother to grip and ease him into a sitting position. "Any trouble getting here?"

"Some guys outside the motel but Pauline helped me ditch them."

Dean grinned in the ghost's direction and Sam was sure that if she could have blushed she would have. Shaking his head he looked his brother over. Even in the poor light Dean looked pale, his complexion nearly on a par with Pauline's.

"How you doing?"

"Leg's bitching like dad on a training run. You got anything?"

"Just some Tylenol, that do?" Sam fished them out as he spoke.

"Any port in a storm," came his brother's reply as he held his hand out, took them and forced them down dry.

"So what happened?" The younger man looked between his brother and their phantom friend.

"Two guys, one slipped something into my IV and the other was going to put out my lights, permanently I think, with something he was trying to inject into my foot. Unfortunately for them, Pauline showed up and rescued me, literally walked me right out the door." He paused a thought hitting him. "God," he looked at Pauline. "You dressed me! Guess that mean that you took the catheter out too?"

Pauline nodded.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Well that's kinda embarrassing," he grinned at Pauline. "Cold hands is my excuse."

The ghost actually giggled and it was Sam's turn to roll his eyes. Even though he knew that joking was just part of his brother's defence mechanism it was the part he'd forgot that annoyed him the most. "People! …..er…you two…., can we focus here? They tried to kill you? Are you sure?" Sam ran a hand over his face, anger stirring inside him.

"Looks that way. Seems that I'm the fall guy for this and they want to make sure that I can't mount a defence. If I'm dead then they can say anything that they want about me."

Sam turned and ran his fingers through his hair, thoughts swirling through his head. "We need to get you some place safe."

"You got a gun?," Dean asked.

"Yeah." Sam pulled his Taurus from the waistband of his jeans.

"Car?"

"Outside."

"What kind is it?" The smirk was back.

"Does it matter?"

Dean raise an eyebrow.

"It's a rental that I stole."

"Man…."

Sam stopped him. "It's a car Dean, and one that won't stand out in a crowd."

"Suppose….it'll do. For now. I miss my damn car," he huffed. "I miss the arsenal in the truck. Okay, help me up and we're gonna show these asses how to really fight dirty."

Sam looked at him but didn't move to help. "What do you have in mind Long John? Get them to stand still while you beat them to death with your cast?"

"You know, jokes don't suit you." Dean struggled to get up and Sam was forced to step forward to help him.

"Take your time!"

"Help me then!" Dean let Sam pull him up onto his feet. "First, we're going back to the motel room."

"We're what? They're waiting there for you Dean!"

"I don't have any boots Sam, and my feet are friggin' cold besides we don't have to go in." He smiled at Pauline. "The bathroom's got a small window, she can get in and then pass then out that way."

"Big risk for a pair of boots," Sam huffed.

"I want my boots, even if I can only wear one, I want them. Need some of the paperwork from the box too."

"Like?"

"I want the address of the holding companies, we're going to do a little digging. I don't care about the monkeys, I want the organ grinder."

Sam had been walking his brother to the door. He stopped to look at Dean. "And when we get him?"

The smile on his brother's face was so evil that Sam had to look away.

"They're human Dean."

"Only just, besides I ain't gonna do anything to them. Not personally at least."

Sam was sure that he wasn't going to like where this was heading. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing. I'm just gonna show them something that we know that they don't."

"What's that?"

Dean's smile changed from downright evil to shining bright. "That sometimes, the dead fight back."

* * *

They needn't have worried about the motel room, by the time they got back there trucks were parked everywhere. "Hunters," Dean supplied needlessly. "Is dad planning a war?"

"Think he might be," Sam answered as he drove by and pulled the car back into the lot it belonged on. "He was pretty pissed that you'd disappeared. You know how dad gets when it gets personal."

"Don't I ever. Help me out, let's go see what going on."

"What about the guys watching?," Sam asked as he put the car into park and killed the engine.

"Do you really think that they'd be stupid enough to try anything just now? Or to even still be here? I mean dad called the Anderson brothers, their truck's in the lot! Even I wouldn't get in those guys way!"

"Point taken. Let's get you inside."

* * *

Sam left Dean resting against the doorframe as he put his hand to the knob and pushed the door open.

The motel room was a mess.

Papers were scattered everywhere and Sam sighed when he realised what that meant. The guys had raided the room while he was gone. The room went quiet, all the hunters turning in the direction of the door as it opened.

John turned too, one hand dropping instinctively to the gun on the desk in front of him. His eyes blazed when he took in Sam's form in the doorway. "Where the hell have you been?" He started forward. "They took it all! All the proof that we had! You were supposed to stay right here until we got back! What was so hell fired important that you couldn't obey a direct order?"

Sam stepped back from the attack, a reply hanging from his lips that was stilled by the touch of his brother's hand to his shoulder.

"Me." Dean half stepped, half hopped into view behind Sam. "Sam came to get me."

John gave Sam a quick, almost apologetic look and then pushed past him, hauling Dean into the room and firing the door closed behind him. "Jesus son, you okay?" Before Dean could get an answer out he was being manhandled down onto the bed nearest the door and his father was checking him over. "Are you hurt? What happened? How's your leg? Where the hell were you? Why didn't you call me?" The last one was directed at Sam.

"Whoa there." Dean caught his dad's hands and stilled them. "I'm fine alright? Can you stop feeling me up in front of a room full of hunters?" He snorted a little laugh and watched as his dad relaxed a little too, trying not to show how pleased he was at the worry in the older man's eyes.

"What happened?" John sat down next to him on the bed, his eyes still checking his son over, worry still there at the paleness of Dean's face and the ripples of pain that he could see run through him as he settled back against the headboard. "You taken anything?," John asked as he lifted Dean's bad leg up to rest on the bed.

"Just Tylenol," Sam answered. "I didn't have anything else on me."

John gave Bobby a quick glance. "I'm on it," the other replied, heading towards John's duffle and the stocked first aid kit it contained.

"There's morphine in there," John offered to Dean.

Shaking his head Dean refused the offer. "Screws with my head. Anything else?"

"Percocet?" It was Bobby this time that spoke, bringing over the kit and a glass of water.

"Better. Just one." Dean held out his hand and took the offered tablet ignoring Bobby's raised eyebrows.

"So want to tell us what happened?" John's voice drew the attention of everyone in the room and Dean turned a little so that he was just looking at his father when he recounted the tale he'd already told his brother. John's face darkened even more than Sam's had when Dean got the part where they'd tried to kill him. "Son's of bitches. I swear, if I get my hands on them…." John wiped at his face and then stood, the little group of hunter's parting as he made his way back to the table. Dean looked past his dad to the room beyond. The plans had been ripped off the wall and the file box that they'd had was gone, as was Sam's laptop.

"They take everything?" Dean knew it was a pointless question but he had to ask.

"Everything that was important," John replied sitting down heavily at the table.

"Sorry." Sam stepped forward, putting himself into the frame of his father's vision.

John raised his eyes to his son's face. "Doesn't matter. Law ain't gonna touch them anyhow. These kind of guys know how to hide their tracks and how to make their problems disappear."

Sam flicked a look at his brother at the words catching that glimmer in Dean's eyes again.

"I got an idea, if anyone is interested," his brother offered. All heads turned to the injured Winchester that was lying on the bed, watching as he closed his eyes and tilted his head back against the headboard.

"And that is?" John turned in the chair to face Dean.

"I need you to find out who is behind the holding companies. Bobby didn't Jim say that his dad was involved?"

Bobby nodded. "Jim's dad's involved in the finance part of it. He wasn't taking much to do with the rebuilding just the funding for it. I'll call Jim, see if he can't get a few names." He went outside and Dean turned to the gathered group.

"Anyone got a laptop?" Two guys that he knew the faces but not the names of raised their hands. "Good. Sam can you look from this end. Search the company records and see if you can scare up an address for these goons."

"We paying them a visit when we find them?" John grinned at his eldest son.

"No, I'm gonna pay them a visit. You guys, are gonna be the distraction." Dean returned the grin.

John frowned. "You can't go in there alone!"

"I'm sure they got elevators I can use," Dean dodged and looked away from the displeased look on John's face.

"That, ain't what I meant and you know it," the older man growled at him.

"It's okay. I ain't going in alone, just not taking you guys in with me. I got someone that wants these guys put down more than I do. Better equipped for the task than you guys too."

John thought he knew where this was going. "Pauline?"

Dean's grin brightened. "Pauline. Anyone deserves to take these guys down then it's her. All we got to do is find them for her."

John shook his head. "I don't like it. I'm coming with you."

"No," Dean locked eyes with his father, "..you're not. I don't need your help on this one. I got it."

A little muscle ticked on John's face and the room fell completely silent as the two men faced each other off. "Dean." The warning was there but Dean pushed anyway.

"I got this."

Sam wanted to step in and break the deadlock but he knew better. He almost gasped as John shrugged and backed down. "Your show. What are you wanting us to do?"

"What you do best, distract them. Cause a little mayhem. Think you can do that?"

John smiled. "It's my middle name."


	20. Chapter 20

NO don't faint, this is actually an update to this story. And I have the next few chapters up and running, just need to flesh the bones a little and we should be good to go!

Just want to stop and say thank you for all the reviews on this story, I haven't managed to reply to them lately but I want you to know that I appreciate your support and your opinions and cherish each and every one. So *hugs* to you all.

Mary xx

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Dean had folded to the persistence of his brother and had crashed for a few hours, Sam and John taking turns to check on him while he was sleeping and both ignoring Bobby's pointed remarks about closing stable doors after the horses had bolted.

The room had cleared out after a half hour or so after Dean had fallen asleep and the hunters basically took over the motel and the rooms it had left.

It was getting light as Dean finally surfaced and eased himself off of the bed, Sam's head coming up from the laptop as he caught the movement. He started to stand but Dean waved him off. "I got this, just need some air." Sam frowned as he watched his brother's face whiten with the strain of reaching the door but he remained seated. When he was happy that Dean had reached the door safely and wasn't going to face plant he dropped his eyes back to his work. "Dad's outside," he informed his brother. "He got cabin fever."

Snorting at that Dean pulled the door open and hobbled through, glad when he could rest his weight back on the door frame. He groaned at the sight in front of him. Turns out John's idea of not coming with Dean wasn't the same as his son's and the middle Winchester watched as his father unloaded and then loaded the truck again with all the items that he thought would be useful. Once John was finally happy with his work he closed up the truck and walked over to were his son was leaning, catching the wry smile directed his way as he strode towards him. "That's us," he informed his son. "We should be all set. Once Sam has got the address and the floor we need, we're good to go."

Dean sighed and turned to look at Bobby who had quietly slipped into place beside him. "We," Dean started and waved a finger between himself and Bobby, "are leaving as soon as Sam gets us a name and a place. You guys can have our backs, make a little noise to let us get away after we've done what we have to do."

John frowned. "Wait, you're taking _him_ with you?" He poked a finger into Bobby's chest.

"Yes." Dean put a hand on Bobby's shoulder and used him to turn himself to face into the room. His father's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Wait. How come he gets to go with and we don't?" John gestured by Dean to Sam who was still sitting with his head buried in the laptop he'd borrowed.

Bobby beat Dean to an answer. "That's what you get for being late to the party. Come on let's get you back inside and resting. Eating would be good too." Bobby took Dean's arm and the younger man let him gently help him to get through the door and over to the bed where Dean eased himself down with a bitten back groan.

"Now wait just a god damned minute…," John started and was interrupted this time by his son.

"This is Bobby's hunt and mine, not yours." There was a steely determination in Dean's voice.

"Seems you don't always get to call the shots Johnny boy," Bobby chipped in as he fussed over getting Dean to bring his leg up onto the bed. He turned his attention away from John then to the younger Winchester. "You need something to eat and then you're gonna rest up for a while," he told him while ignoring John's huff of protest.

Dean freed himself from the older man's grip. "I'm gonna go get a shower before I do anything. I stink and I hate these damn clothes." He pulled a disgusted face at the hospital grab he was still wearing.

"Food first, even if it is just some soup." Bobby walked over to the microwave and shoved a mug that was sitting into it, waited for the beep and then carried it back to Dean. They both smiled as his stomach growled his response for him.

"Okay, maybe a little although a cheeseburger would be better."

John and Bobby both smiled at that, the grizzled old hunter moving over to sit opposite Sam and finally give John his place at his son's side. Exchanging a grateful glance with his friend John came forward and sat down next to Dean. "You've hardly eaten anything in days. Keep this down and we'll see what we can do next time." He frowned as Dean tensed beside him. "What's wrong?"

Dean shifted and grimaced as his good leg started to cramp. "S'nothing. Just cramp in my leg." Dean rested his head back against the headboard and bit into his lip hard enough to draw blood. "Sonuvabitch." He moaned the curse quietly.

John took the mug and placed it on the side table, reaching a hand out for Dean's arm as his son's face started to drain of the little colour that it had . "Can I help?," he queried, not sure whether to touch his son's leg or not.

"Foot's cramping now…shit….can you…."

John gently gripped Dean's leg and started to massage it, frowning deeper as his boy's face contorted in pain. "Should I stop?"

Dean shook his head, closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing.

They sat that way for a few minutes until the younger man finally got a grip on the pain in his leg and waved his father off. "Better. Thanks."

"Here take some of this, slowly, it's hot." John eased the mug back into his son's hand and waited until he was sure that Dean had it before he let go.

After a few careful sips Dean gently rested the mug on his stomach. His eyes drifted over the rest of the room.

Sam was scribbling notes on a pad that sat to his right hand side, stopping every now and then to give a little frown at the screen before jotting something else down. As if sensing that his brother had turned his attention to him he lifted his head from the screen of the laptop and looked over. A slow smile crossed his face. "Hey, how you doing?"

"Peachy? You got anything?," Dean nodded at the pad next to his brother.

"Names of twelve people," Sam informed him, holding up the pad and waving it at him. "The food chain for DeVere, Elliot and Cain Properties, the owners of the Hamilton mall."

"That's my brother." Dean nodded at that and then looked back at his dad. "Where's everybody else by the way? You scare them off while I was out?"

"They've claimed the empty rooms left here, set up a base of operations in the one next door. Motel guy must think Christmas came early. Besides, I thought you'd like the peace and the privacy. Oh, and your girlfriend Pauline has been hanging around," his father informed him.

"You're funny." Dean rolled his eyes at his father. "So do we know where I got to go yet?"

John raised concerned eyes to his eldest son. "I still don't like this plan Dean. I mean from what Bobby has told me, this Pauline isn't the most stable of ghosts. If you go in there and she does a number on them what is to stop her turning on you? I really should come with…"

"No." It was almost a shout. "Bobby and I can manage." Dean cut him off, handing the mug back to him and motioning for his father to move out of his way. "Pauline is okay and she deserves this. They put her in that friggin' box alive Dad. You didn't see the scratch marks on the inside of the lid. They locked her in there and bricked her in and didn't give a damn. They just left her behind like she didn't mean anything."

"Well then, can't she do this on her own? Not like she can run into trouble on it, what with being dead already."

"No. Nobody was there for her when she needed them before, I'm gonna be there for her now." John's face darkened at what felt like a not so subtle dig but he stood back and said nothing, just watched as Dean eased his bad leg down onto the floor and followed it with his good one, getting upright only with the help of John's guiding hand which he quickly shrugged off. "I got it."

"Where are you going anyway?," John growled. "You need to rest that leg."

"Shower? And I need to pee too, and I ain't doing it in a bottle when there's a perfectly good bathroom only feet away."

John shook his head and folded his arms across his chest, scowling in Sams' direction when his youngest rose and started towards them. "Fine, don't let us stop you," he countered switching easily from concern to annoyance.

Dean knew a challenge when he heard it. Well fine, he thought, I've managed for weeks without either of you. The pain was instant when he put his weight back on his injured leg but he managed three or four steps before Sam stepped forward and grabbed his arm, taking his weight on his bad side. "He'll kill himself trying to prove a point, don't you know that," the younger man barked at his father.

"Needs to learn his limits," John growled back.

Dean could see the flash of anger in his brother's eyes as he turned to issue a retort. He stepped in before he could. "Stop it! Stop it right now. You guys start arguing with one another and you can just both get the hell out of here. Do you hear me?" He shrugged himself free from Sam's grip, grabbing at the jam of the bathroom door and using it to steady himself. "Sam, get me some clothes will ya? I want out of these." He pulled angrily at the nurse's uniform that he was still wearing and then pointed at the empty wooden chair at the desk. "Bring that in too."

Sam quickly gathered sweats, a t-shirt and some clean underwear from his brother's duffle and snagged the chair on the way by, manoeuvring past Dean to place the said chair in the bottom of the shower cubicle and the clothes on the ledge in the bathroom. "You need a hand?," he queried his brother as he worked.

"Do you hear hell freezing over?," Dean snarked, free hand raising to cup his ear. "No? Then I don't need a hand."

Sam bristled. "Fine, just call when you end up on your ass on the floor." With that he exited the small room and stomped over to the desk, throwing himself back on the other chair and into his task.

Dean sighed and slammed the door of the bathroom. He eyed the toilet before he put the lid down and slumped his weight down on it. He'd pee in the shower, much less hassle. The first aid kit was lying on the bathroom shelf and he reached up and pulled it down. Finding the scissors he pulled the waistband of the scrubs wide and just cut them free, mirroring the job on the other leg. Throwing everything back into the sink he pulled the shirt off and then himself up and over to the shower.

With his bad leg sticking out of the shower at an angle to keep as much of it out of the water as possible he pulled his other one up and rested his head on it. He exhaled gently, enjoying the feeling of the water cascading over his back, easing the aches and pains that still lingered there from the collapse. For once the water was warm and plentiful and he must have drifted off again as it seemed like only seconds and his father was calling his name from the other side of the door. The worry in the tone told Dean that it wasn't the first time that he had been shouted on and he forced a reply out hoping that it was coherent enough to calm John before he had company.

"Damn well answer me when I call!"

Dean did a mock salute at the closed door through the curtain of the shower and then reached up to turn the water off. It took him another half an hour to get himself almost into his clothes by which time he was sweating and John was back at the door, this time popping the lock on the first call of Dean's name and coming in. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Dean raised his head and realised that John was staring at all the little bruises that he had from the chucks of falling masonry that he got him before the big part of the ceiling had come down and damn near squashed him. He struggled his t-shirt on and then started to use the wall to pull himself up trying to ignore the shaking in his arms as he did.

John stepped forward and held out a hand. "Let me help you back through. Don't be a stubborn ass, it's not like I've not got enough with your brother being one." There was a softness in his father's tone that disarmed Dean and he raised his hand letting John pull him up and against him until he got steady on his feet. _He is so not hugging me,_ his little inner voice piped up just asJohn coughed an embarrassed little cough and stepped back giving Dean back his space. Fearing his family were all on the edge of some emotional meltdown, the mood swings coming thick and fast now Dean let himself be led back to the bed but refused to lie back down. Instead, he settled on the edge next to the lamp table and used it to lean on. "So, you got me an address yet?"

Sam's head came up from the laptop, hand carding through his hair as it did. He threw a quick look to John and then looked towards Dean. "Yeah. Next big town over has an area office with three guys in charge. Looks like they are the ones that make all the decisions for the company in this area. Carte blanche to do what they like." He paused. "Probably cause one of them is Samuel Elliot himself, son of the co-founder of the company."

"So he's the guy where the buck stops for this?" Dean looked to his brother for confirmation.

"Nothing gets out of the office without his approval."

"Good enough for me." Dean closed his eyes and let his head fall forward causing his family to exchange a worried look. Just as John started forward from his position in the middle of the floor the temperature of the room started to drop sharply and a haze appeared between him and his eldest. Pauline reached down and gently touched Dean's face, green eyes opening and smiling at her as Dean lifted his head back up and leant into her. John frowned as he watched the ghost shake her head, stepping back from Dean and fading a little as his son reached for her and tried to keep her near him.

"I don't want to do that again," she whispered softly.

"I need your help to finish this," Dean lent closer and she stepped hesitantly back towards him. "..and you need mine."

"What's going on?" John stepped closer but neither of them looked at him, it was like they were lost in a little private conversation that only they could hear. That, John suddenly realised, was exactly what was happening.

"I'm sure," Dean uttered quietly and Pauline stepped in and took his head in her hands, tilting his face up and bringing hers down to meet it. Dean's eyes closed as their lips brushed briefly and his breath hitched through him. Pauline flickered and then faded in front of John's eyes.

"Where did she go?," he asked, moving closer to Dean who was still sitting, head tilted as she had left him.

When Dean's eyes opened he had the answer to his question.

"No way," John growled as he moved forward and grabbed his son's arm. "Get the hell out of him right now!"

Green eyes blinked calmly at him. "Let go of his arm, you're hurting him." The voice had a cold edge to it that had John wanting to reach for the shotgun that was lying on the other bed. Instead he dropped Dean's arm free.

"I want to speak to Dean, he's not doing this. Not like this."

"Dad." It was all Dean that was there this time when John met his son's eyes. "This is the easiest way." He pushed himself up off the bed and walked over to the table, his leg only appearing to slightly hinder him now.

"She's helping you walk." John voiced the thought in his head.

Dean nodded but kept his attention on his brother. "You got that address?," he asked as he lifted Sam's Taurus from the table. "Mind if I borrow this?"

"Where's yours?"

"In the glove box of Bobby's car, which is still buried under a couple of tons of shopping mall." Dean unconsciously started to check his brother's gun over, turning it in his hands and ejecting the cartridge.

"It's clean and it's loaded," Sam informed him in a tone that was half amused, half annoyed.

"Just checking, you know, seeing if college boy here has remembered what _I_ taught him." There was a smile on his face as he spoke and Sam returned it.

"You can take the boy out of the Impala….," he answered.

"Yeah you can," Dean answered, the smile still on his face but dropping from his eyes.

Sam reached out a hand. "Dean listen,…"

Dean tucked the gun into his waistband and cut his brother off with a clap of his hands. "Okay, lets get this show on the road."


	21. Chapter 21

Hey folks. Sorry again about the delay. Still busy here but this is a long one and bring part of the story to a close so I hope it was worth the wait and that you like it.

Thank you as always for your reviews and your patience!

Mary xx

* * *

Dean is in italics when it's Pauline at the helm to hopefully make things read a little easier!. x

Bobby was standing in no man's land without any cover. On one side he had Dean and Pauline and on the other the more explosive combo of John and Sam. One pair wanted his help to get their revenge on the people that had killed and maimed them and the others wanted to take that right away and get revenge of their own.

Each side's arguments had their merits.

Dean wanted to show his family that he could do this on his own even if being on his own without his family was the last thing that Dean ever want. Bobby wasn't sure why John had left his eldest in the wind the way he had but Dean he knew saw it as only one thing. He saw it as not being good enough and it was the thing most likely to get the younger man killed. Daddy's expectations where a lot to live up to especially since he was now shouldering those expectations alone without his brother by his side to ease the load.

Pauline's case was easier. They had killed her, or rather left her to die. Hell Bobby would have come back and haunted their ass himself if they had done that to him.

The other side of the fence was harder to pin down. They had tried to kill John's son, that alone was enough in the ex-marine's book to have earned them a bullet. John's other argument of Dean being too banged up to do this was true but with Pauline's help all that would mean would be a little more down time before he'd be back on the road and that in Bobby's eyes would be no bad thing. He reckoned a little R&R for Dean at his place was just what the boy needed. John's real motive though he thought was more likely that the man was so used to driving this bus that he unable to relinquish control even to his more than capable elder son.

Sam was a different matter. Sam was out and as far as Bobby knew he wanted to stay that way but the boy's reaction to Bobby's call about the collapse told the older hunter one thing. No matter how hard Sam had ran from John's overbearing guiding hand, he still felt guilty about leaving his brother behind and in danger. Bobby imagined that getting that call was Sam's worst nightmare come true and the boy seemed to want to finish this hunt for Dean as payback to his brother.

So now they were in John's truck on their way to the headquarters of DeVere, Elliot and Cain and he felt like one shake on the road and the whole thing was going to blow. The tension in the air was thick. John and Dean had had words before they left, quiet voices in the corner of the room but there had been a look in Dean's eyes that told Bobby this time John was going to be the one to back down. That the man had finally got to see some of himself in his elder child and hadn't liked it.

Sam had finished the intel they needed and was now silently pouring over it all in the back seat, pencil tapping annoyingly against the book that lay on his lap.

It was Dean that broke the silence. "Sam, _please_! Enough!"

His brother looked up. "What?"

"You're doing that damn thing again with the pencil! Can you stop?" Dean turned back to look out at the road and missed the face his brother pulled. Bobby stifled a nervous laugh.

Sam coughed and leant forward against the back of his brother's seat. "I want to go in with you. I've gone over the layout. I know best where all the exits are."

_Here we go_, Bobby thought.

"No. If anyone goes in with me it's gonna be Bobby, it's his hunt after all, even if the target's changed," Dean countered from the front and in the back the older hunter smiled. _That ought to go down well_.

"You were serious about just taking Bobby?," John questioned as he stopped his truck at the end of the private road leading to the building and turned to his son. "Dean listen…"

Letting out a weary sigh his son turned to him. "Yes and no." He reached for the door handle as John leant over and Sam put a hand on his shoulder.

"You shouldn't be going in there on your own, even with Bobby standing guard. Let us help," Sam asked.

"Yeah son, Sam and I can help…..," John started but was stopped as Dean swung round in the seat, pain leeching onto his face before he could stop it.

That pain edged his words with more bitterness than he would have liked as he spoke. "Glad you two can actually manage to agree on something. Better late than never huh?"

The other two men exchanged a look and then John tried to reason with his son again. "Dean you need help on this one, what with your leg the way it is…."

That did it. It was almost an angry shout that Dean let out. "Don't think I can handle this on my own? Is that it? Think I need either of you to help me? Where were both of you when I needed you a month ago?"

The silence in the truck was deafening.

Dean wasn't finished. His mouth had got a little life of its own for once, and he was too tired and sore to be bothered to rein it in. "Were where you when I was getting buried inside of a bottle?," he asked Sam. "Couldn't even answer your phone to me." He turned to John. "Were where you when I was getting buried under a mall? If it hadn't been for Bobby I could have died under there and no one would have known who the hell I was." Dean stared at John until his father turned to look out the window and then he opened the door and eased himself out onto his feet, thanking Pauline silently for her assistance. "No one asked either of you to come here and I don't need either of you to be here." His voice broke a little on that. "So if you can't do like I ask, then maybe you should just both leave, go back to school and to whatever the hell it was that _you_ were doing." He shot his father a look and stepped back, slamming the door as he did.

"Well that took longer in arriving than I thought it would," Bobby offered into the silence that surrounded Dean's departure from the truck.

"Shouldn't you be going with him?" John turned angry eyes to his old friend. "And this time, if anything happens to my boy, I _will_ be holding you responsible."

Bobby snorted. "If either of you had given a damn about him he wouldn't even have been here!" He leant forward and got into John's face. "And if it hadn't been for me in the first place bringing him here, you might not have had anything to come back too."

"Just what do you mean by that?"

"If you don't know what you leaving him did to him, then there's no point in me telling you," Bobby countered, his anger deflating. Turning he saw that Dean was waiting for him at the end of the road. "I need to go, I'll buzz when we need you to come in."

* * *

"Looks like we've got company," Adam Calvert offered from the comfort of the chair that he was sitting in. His eyes watched on the CCTV as the two figures approached the main desk downstairs in the reception.

Sam Elliot swung in his chair to get a better look, frowning as he saw just who was standing in his offices. "Why the hell would he come here?"

"Why do people do anything. Money. Probably thinks that he can blackmail us."

Elliot's eyebrows flicked at that. "He can't though, can he? You did get rid of all the information that they had?"

Calvert smiled. "Oh yeah, it's gone." He pulled back his jacket and slipped the colt out, checking the clip as he did. "Only one loose end to tie up and it's just walked through our front door, who knew that good luck made deliveries?" He pushed himself out the chair and walked to the door. "Let them come up, it'll be better if we do this here, more private."

"What are we going to do if he won't take a bribe and what about the others?" Elliot ran his hand nervously through his hair and Calvert let out a long, low sigh.

"Calm down, I've got the others covered. Just find out what he wants and if it's too much then…" he raised the gun and aimed it at Elliot's head, a small grin passing over his lips. Walking over to the panel door that was concealed into the wall he stopped. "Might have to change your carpet though when we're through."

"You can't kill him in my office!," Elliot protested.

"Watch me!" With that he was gone into the next room.

Elliot jumped as the phone on his desk rang. "A Mr Winchester and a Mr Singer here to see you Mr Elliot," his PA announced over the speaker.

"Tell them to send them up and Terry, you can take your lunch now. Have two hours, this might take a while."

His PA sounded shocked at the unusual offer. "Are you sure?"

"Just go Terry. In fact, after this I'm going to go home so you can take the whole afternoon."

"Well if you're sure." He could already hear her packing her stuff up. "Thank you Mr Elliot."

* * *

"You sure about this kid?," Bobby asked with concern. "I mean you're just gonna let her use you to top this guy?"

Dean looked at the numbers on the display panel as they climbed. "Pauline deserves some closure and it's either that or I'm gonna just walk out these doors and put a bullet in him."

"Think you could do that?" Bobby watched Dean play with weapon he was holding and thought for the first time that maybe Dean would do just that. The thought scared him.

"You don't want me to answer that." Dean tapped the Taurus off the wall of the elevator as they rode it up to the floor Calvert's office was on. "Little bit better than the last elevator I was in that this prick owned."

The subject change was noted.

"Yeah but don't be so sure that we still ain't gonna end up in the basement, better put that away," Bobby offered as the car stopped and the door opened to reveal a blonde with a skirt that was borderline illegal.

Dean smiled at her, gun already vanished from sight. "Well hey there." His eyes travelled down her form and he licked his lips. "Your boss about?"

The girl returned the evaluation, obviously liking what she could see. "Mr Elliot's waiting on you. This way." She turned and walked off down the hall and Dean whistled lowly.

"Rich, asshole guys always get hot PA's, life is such a bitch." He was hobbling down the hall on his crutches behind Bobby as he spoke and his chuckle made the older man turn.

"What?"

"Pauline disapproves of my leering at the hired help."

Rolling his eyes Bobby slowed and let him catch up. "Just keep your head in the game okay?"

"I'm on it," Dean answered sounding slightly offended. The girl reached twin oak doors and pushed one of them open. "Mr Elliot, your guests are here."

"Send them in Terry and then you can go."

Stepping aside she let Bobby and Dean walk in by her, a little smile crossing her lips as Dean shot her a smile. "Thank you Terry."

The smile widened until Elliot coughed and she quickly pulled the door shut.

"Nice decoration to have around," Dean obversed as he moved to the chair that Calvert had been sitting in moments before. "Can she type too?," he questioned as he lowered himself carefully down.

"She has her uses," Elliot replied pointing out the other chair to Bobby. "Please. Drink?"

"Thanks and no thanks." Bobby took the other chair and sat down.

"So where's your other hired help?" Dean's tone had changed, ice creeping into it now.

"Other?," Elliot countered as he poured himself a drink.

Dean grinned but there was nothing friendly about the look. "The seat's still warm, so were is he?"

Elliot smiled. "I'm sure that you'll meet Mr Calvert in just a few moments. He popped out to get something."

"I'm sure he did. So, why? Was it just for the money or didn't you mean for your mall to collapse and kill people?" Dean sat back, one hand behind him, fingers wrapped around the Taurus' grip.

"Way I read it in the papers, you're the one that's responsible for the collapse. You were the one with all those weapons in your possession and as for the C4, well, that makes you our own little Unabomber."

"Actually," Dean ran his free hand along the arm of the seat he was in. "I'm a hunter and the C4 wasn't mine, but that part you knew."

"A hunter?" Elliot took a sip of his drink. "What do you hunt?"

"Things like you," Dean answered coldly, eyes glittering just a little in the low light in the office.

"So you are a killer then, like me." The voice came from behind Dean and caused Elliot to look up over Dean's head to where Calvert was now standing, gun raised level with the back of the young hunter's head. "I take it the goons at the motel are all with you?"

"He is nothing like you." Bobby spat the words out. "And yeah, there are other hunters at the motel, if that's what you're asking," Bobby continued, his hand itching to pull the gun from his belt at the threat that he could feel from this man. "Lots of 'em."

"Shame." Calvert grinned easily, "but at least I get to put the rest of that C4 to use. Lots of explosions in this town, mainly were you are." Calvert pointed at Dean. "Of course, this one, it's gonna be your fault too. See we own the motel as well, so now it looks like you've got some kind of vendetta against us. Then you come here and try to kill Mr Elliot, which of course is when I ride in and save the day. That'll tie everything up nicely."

Dean snorted, ignoring the gun and dropping back further into the chair. "Except for why I would even bother in the first place."

"Oh I think we can come up with something," Calvert offered with a smile that curdled Bobby's blood but brightened the smile on Dean's.

"Oh I'd bet money on that one," Dean countered.

"So, speaking of money," Elliot interrupted not liking the look on his companion's face. "Maybe we can settle this in a more amicable way." Calvert and Dean both raised an eyebrow at him. "How much?"

Dean shot him a blank look. "Sorry?"

"Money. To make you take the blame for this and then disappear. How much?" Elliot tapped the cheque book lying on the table in front of him.

"Jesus. Me, take the blame? What do you think I am? Do you think I'm here to extort money out of you after what you tried to do to me? What you did to those others in the mall?" Dean snorted. "You can keep your money, it's got too much blood on it for my liking."

"There's going to be some more on it then in a minute." The barrel of Calvert's gun pressed into the skin at the back of Dean's neck. "If it's not money, then what do _you_ want?"

"I don't want anything," Dean replied, turning his attention away from Elliot to the man behind him. "I came to let a friend of mine get closure before she moves on."

"What friend?" "What kinda closure?" Calvert and Elliot asked at the same time exchanging a look as they did.

Dean looked at Elliot. "You know her, name's Pauline. The girl you stuff in a box and left to die." He turned to Calvert. "She want his head…." Dean jerked a thumb at Elliot. "…and now maybe yours, on a plate. I aim to give them to her."

Elliot was staring at Dean. "How do you know Pauline?"

Dean raised bright green eyes to met Elliot's own. "She is soo angry at you," he said with a sad shake of his head. "I mean I'm pissed at what you did to me, but her? I would not like to be you. Really. You guys, you bashed her head in and then locked her up in a box and left her to die and all she was trying to do was warn you that there was a problem with the mall. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Her death was an accident."

"How do you accidentally bash someone's skull in and then leave them to die in a box," Dean hissed at him.

"She was already dead when Mr Calvert hid the body!" Elliot looked up a Calvert and raised a hand to his head at the look on the other man's face. "She was dead, wasn't she?" Calvert shrugged and Elliot's face drained of colour. He dropped his eyes back to Dean and then froze. "What's wrong with your eyes?," he stuttered.

"I wasn't dead." _Dean_ raised a hand to his face, expression blank. "Oh and these? They aren't Dean's eyes. Not anymore."

Elliot looked to Calvert again and the other man started moving round Dean to get a better look at his face.

"So it was you?," _Dean_ asked. "You were you the one that bound me and put me in that box?" The temperature in the room was falling fast and his breath formed a fog in front of him as he spoke.

Calvert stepped back, threw a quick look to Elliot who was still frozen in his chair and then raised his gun and smiled. "What is this? Some kind of parlour trick?"

"Oh it's a trick alright." _Dean's_ hand moved so fast that Calvert didn't have time to react. He caught the gun in the man's hand and started to twist it away from him, his other hand reaching out to touch Calvert's chest. The man jumped at the touch, his eyes rolling back in his head as the cold and the pain started to seep into him. "And now the joke's on you."

"No…." He had to use all his strength to push the word out.

Bobby and Elliot watched both slightly horrified for different reasons as Calvert jerked back from the touch and dropped to the floor.

"_What are you_ and what did you do to him?," Elliot asked even as he pulled the desk drawer open slowly in front of him, eyes locking with _Dean's _as he did.

"Dean told you, I'm Pauline. You should be glad. I made it quick for him, I'll make it quick for you too, not like it was for me. Do you know I tried to claw my way out?" She held up Dean's hands and both men left in the room watched as the blood started dripping from the ruined tips of his fingers. Elliot swallowed hard and looked down, frantically rummaging in the drawer, all pretence of stealth gone.

Bobby tensed, called her name softly. "Pauline, don't you hurt Dean now."

"I won't." _Dean_ looked down at his hands, at the blood dripping on the carpet and as suddenly as it started it stopped, the skin and nails that were exposed as the blood ran back under _Dean's _fingernails unmarked.

The older hunter nodded but he slipped his free hand into his pocket and tightened his fingers round the salt shaker that he had in it.

_Dean_ looked down at the man at his feet and then back to Elliot. "He was just the monkey here. He was paid to do the things that he did. Even if he did enjoy it a little too much. But you? You're the one that pulls his strings. You're the one that's really to blame."

The coldness in the air intensified, their breaths little ghostly puffs as it escaped from them. _Dean's _eyes faded to a paler shade of grey, colour leeching from his skin as they did, anger written in the lines on his face as he turned. He started to walk towards the man behind the desk, his crutches abandoned at the chair, his movements jerky due to the cast on his leg but still holding an unearthly grace to them.

Bobby pulled the gun from his waistband, turning to aim it at Elliot and stilling the man's hands in the drawer with a word. "Don't."

"All I wanted to do was stop people getting hurt by what I thought was a genuine oversight on you and your company's part. I was just trying to do the right thing." _Dean_ was still advancing slowly towards him and Elliot pushed his chair back from the desk, ta small pistol in his grip.

"Stop right there!," he barked, the gun starting to shake wildly in his hand.

"Not so easy to kill someone when you are the one that has to pull the trigger is it? Not so easy to get your own hands dirty with spilled blood." _Dean _spat the words at him.

Bobby cursed as Pauline inadvertently put _Dean _right in his line of sight. "Pauline…..," he started to say but was stopped as she continued on.

"It wasn't a mistake though was it? Even if it was, you knew! You knew that people were in danger and yet you did nothing to stop it. Stopped me from preventing them getting hurt! You killed me, hurt Dean and buried all those people in the mall and for what? Nothing more than some extra dollars in your pocket." All emotion dropped from _Dean's _face again and his eyes darkened almost to black, swirls of grey and green in them, as he rounded the desk. His hand reached out, stopping just short of touching Elliot's chest, his head snaking down so that his forehead almost rested on Elliot's own. "You,….are a very, very, bad, bad man." The words were spat out.

Bobby saw the intent in the other man's eyes but could do nothing as Elliot squeezed the trigger, the bullet sure to find a target at such close range. _Dean_ jerked back a little, swaying as he looked down at his body. He dropped a hand to his side, pulling it up bloody and then his other hand landed hard on Elliot's chest. "You shot Dean!"

One by one the overhead lights flickered and then died. The computer screen on the desk went haywire and then blacked out too. Lights flashed on the desk phone as all the lines started to ring at once and a printer in the corner started to spew paper over the floor. Various other electrical systems like the air conditioning and the fire alarm sprang to life, the latter soaking them as it set off the sprinkler system as well. Then everything just died and Dean growled, a sound that raised all the hairs on Bobby's damp skin like the electricity had somehow jumped into him.

Elliot was pinned to the chair. Whatever Pauline was doing to the man drew a scream out of him that filled the still, cold air. He started to convulse in the seat, both hands dropping to his side and the gun to the floor as he lost his grip on it. The scream seemed to be gathering volume rather than dissipating and Bobby finally had to raise his hands to his ears, feeling for sure that he was going to feel blood dripping from them, the noise now surely loud enough to make his ears bleed.

The silence when it hit was deafening. Elliot's head rolled to the side, sightless eyes staring at the older hunter as he got his act together and moved towards Dean. Pulling his cell free he hit the number he wanted, thankful that it still seemed to work, and was rounding the table as it connected. "Need you boys up here," he uttered into it and then snapped it shut, cutting off John's question in mid flow.

"Dean?" Raising his hand he placed it gently onto his friend's shoulder, frowning when neither the touch or the call of his name elicited a response. "Dean," he tried again, pulling with his hand to get the younger man to turn to him, worry spiking in him as he got a good look at his companion's face. Dean's eyes were closed, pain etched into every aspect of the face before Bobby. A small trickle of blood ran from his nose and Bobby reached up and wiped it away with the pad of his thumb only for more to take its place. "Kid?" Bobby spoke the word gently as he reached out to Dean with his free hand and caught his other arm, slowly turning him to face him fully. The younger man wobbled unsteadily before him and Bobby tightened his grip looking down as he did for the wound he knew what somewhere on Dean's right side.

"Bobby?" The broken sound of his own name drew his eyes back up. Green eyes stared back at his own but there was an emptiness about them that chilled Bobby more than his damp clothes or the cold in the air around him. He caught Dean as he went down, the cast on his leg causing him to fall awkwardly to one side, dragging the older hunter with him.

"Dean?" The quiet whisper of his friend's name made Bobby turn. Pauline was standing behind him, hands to her cheeks, a stricken look on her face. "I didn't mean for him to get hurt. I didn't mean it! I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Bobby wasn't sure if she was talking about Dean's taking a bullet or whatever the hell she had did to him while she was frying Elliot. He didn't care either until the lights flared back to life and then exploded, showering him and Dean with glass. The fire alarm sprang to life again as there was a small explosion somewhere that shook the floor he was kneeling on.

"Sorry….I'm sorry….." She was ranting the words, the energy spiking from her destroying the electrics of the room around her and, Bobby could tell, what seemed to be the rest of the building as well.

"I'm sorry too," he said, realising that he had no time to reason with her or for niceties. He dipped his hand back in his pocket and threw the salt at her, wincing at the unholy screech that she let out as she vanished. One problem dealt with he was turning his attention back to Dean when another two burst through the door.

John was down on his knees beside him in a shot. "What the hell happened?" He saw the blood seeping through Dean's shirt and grabbed the collar of Bobby's own. "Damn you Singer!"

Bobby brushed him off and looked up at Sam who was hovering behind his father. "I need you to go get the truck and pull it nearer. Then I need you to call the motel and tell the others to get the hell outta there. The bastards have set some kinda bomb in the building somewhere and I don't know when it'll blow." When Sam just stood there he lost his cool. "Sam, move your ass! People are gonna die if you don't, and Dean might be one of them!" Now waiting to see if he was going to be obeyed this time he turned back to Dean.

The tone sprung Sam into action. He took the keys that his father was holding out and turned for the door. Bobby looked over at John. "Pauline got too close. The guy pulled a gun. I saw it gonna happen, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it." He sobbed in a breath. "Again, just like when the mall came down." Bobby wiped at his face with a hand and then went back to checking Dean's wound.

"How bad is it?" John pulled off his shirt and then his t-shirt as he spoke, taking the latter and ripping it.

Bobby gently turned Dean checking for an exit wound. "It's a through and through. Least we don't got to dig about for a bullet." He raised his fingers to Dean's neck and frowned. "Need to get him out of here. Hospital would be good right about now."

"How?"

"How what?"

"How the hell are we supposed to get him medical treatment when he's wanted in connection to what happened at the mall?" John was working on stemming the flow of blood even as he hissed the question at Bobby.

The older man sighed. "Shit, right. Well Bert Anderson was a military medic….."

"Bert Anderson is a psychopath."

"Yeah well he's a skilled psychopath, let's get him up and we can argue the toss about Bert later. We need to get him out of here before the fire brigade shows and then the cops."

"Why isn't he awake?" John checked Dean's vitals himself this time. "Pulse is all over the shop and his breathing's too shallow." He turned to Bobby. "What the hell else happened?"

"Pauline might have accidentally done a number on him when she went postal on Elliot."

John muttered something under his breath that Bobby was sure he was glad to have missed. "Where is she anyway? She still in him?"

Helping his friend ease Dean up and off the ground Bobby shook his head. "I had to season her, she lost it 'cos Dean got hurt. Thought she was gonna fry the whole damn building."

John muttered again as he lifted Dean up awkwardly into his arms. "Get the door," he growled at Bobby.

With Bobby helping to support Dean's bad leg they made their way down the back stairs and out just as the first of the flashing lights started to pull up to the front of the building. Sam was waiting with the truck, the back door already open. He was sitting in the rear of the cab and he leant forward and help gently ease his brother in beside him, cradling Dean's head on his lap when he was settled.

"Keep pressure on that wound, it doesn't look like anything major got hit but you know the drill."

Sam nodded at his father and then watch as the other two men climbed in the front. "I called the motel, the guys are out. Couple of them are staying behind to see if they can find any device."

John looked at Bobby. "Well according to my eldest son, this is your show, so where now?"

"Jim Morgan will take us in. Head out back the way you came, when we get to Hamilton I'll guide you in." Bobby picked out his phone and dialled. "Bert? Yeah its Bobby…can you haul ass and meet me at Jim Morgan's place….bring your kit….Dean took a hit…...thanks….got a pen…..here's where you going."


	22. Chapter 22

Hey folks! Don't faint, yes this is an update to this story. Sorry about the long delays between chapters and the lack of response to your reviews, the weeks are flying by so quickly and I do not have enough hours in the day to get all the things (like this story for one!) done that I want done. A little quiet, slow one but I hope that you still enjoy it and that it moves the story on nearer its end. Thank you for sticking with this and for your unending patience while I get my act in gear! Mary xx

* * *

Jim Morgan's place was nicely dressed. There was a pale blue comforter on the bed and matching curtains hanging at the window. The floor had a rich, thick piled cream carpet on it and the wallpaper was a warm yellow giving the room a welcoming glow in the sunlight that drifted lazily through it. The best thing about it though, Sam thought absently as he made his way in the door with his brother in his arms, was that it wasn't some filthy, flea ridden motel room that they were going to have to patch Dean up in this time.

Jim pulled back the comforter as Sam and John approached and laid some clean, blue towels on the bed to keep the blood off the bottom sheet. "How's he doing?," he asked with concern in his eyes as he stepped aside to let them get Dean settled on the bed.

"Tell you in a minute." Bert Anderson came through the door just behind the three Winchesters, dropping his holdall on the small dresser on the wall inside the door and digging his first aid kit from it. "So what happened?," he asked as he took the kit and pushed Sam out of his way to get to the stricken Winchesteron the bed.

"Gunshot to the right side," John offered immediately. "We think it's missed anything vital but the ghost did a number on him. His breathing and his pulse are way off."

Bert rolled Dean carefully onto his good side. "Hold him, " he barked at John and then set about cutting Dean's shirt and t-shirt from him, neatly running his blade up Dean's back and slicing both garments clean in two. Pushing John off he rolled Dean back and freed his arms from the clothes. "Back off," he muttered as John stepped in again. "I need room to work."

He gently eased the ruined remains of John's own shirt from Dean's side and then, in contrast, roughly examined the wound beneath it. John made a noise that made the man look up. "I'm the medic here, live with it." He continued his exam and then raised his head up. "Doesn't look too bad, bleeding a bit much for my liking but you're right, seems to have missed anything he can't do without or he'd be dead by now." He took out his phone and tossed it to John, only the elder man's good reflex saving it from the floor. "Call Frank, tell him to get three bags of whatever blood type your boy here is asap. You do know his blood type, don't ya?"

John scowled and nodded. Necessary information in this line of work. He dialled the number and passed on the order then threw the phone down on the bed.

Bert poured something onto Dean's side that made him buck his hips and groan lowly in his throat, the first sounds that he'd made since they left the office building. Both men on either side of the bed exchanged a look. "He supposed to do that?," John asked, the anger in his voice evident.

Bert just nodded and pressed a clean rag to the wound causing Dean to groan again. John snorted but the medic just ignored him and continued his exam. Leaning closer he brushed a hand against the skin of Dean's forehead and gently pulled each eye lid open. "Dean? You with us boy?," he asked as he started his assessment of his patient. Bert lent over and shone a light in both of Dean's eyes. "He take anything?"

Sam and John shook their heads in unison. "No. Why?," asked the latter.

"Pupils are blown, guess that must have been the ghost friend that did that." Bert paused. "Where is she anyhow? You guys salt and burn her ass for this?"

"Kinda." Bobby moved in nearer from his spot at the bottom of the bed. "He gonna be okay?"

Bert shrugged. "I can tell you better when we get some blood into him. We still don't know what our girlfriend did to him but if she raised enough juice to fry a guy…..well, it's probably gonna be a long case of wait and see but I know a few tricks."

* * *

Sam almost hissed himself as he watched Bert deftly stick the thin needles into the skin of his brother's shoulder. The medic frowned a little at the lack of reaction and then moved down trying his luck with more needles in the crook of Dean's arm and then his wrist.

"What are you doing to him?" The youngest Winchesterwasn't sure that he liked this man but he was sure that he didn't like what he was doing to Dean, there was a blue substance on the needles that stank worse than the medic himself did. He reached for the jar that was sitting on the bed only to have his hand slapped away.

"Best that you don't touch that, it doesn't like being handled more than it needs to be." Bert gestured to the needles in Dean's arm. "See this, it's a little like acupuncture, but it's not," the man continued cryptically and then went back to his search for an area of Dean's skin that would elicit a reaction to the needles.

"That's helpful," Sam huffed as he took his seat next to Dean's side.

"Will be if it wakes him up," Bert smiled back. "Where's John?"

"Luckily for you, he's downstairs with Bobby seeing if they can't find another way to wake my brother up without turning him into a human pin cushion that reeks."

Bert gave him a shit eating grin that Dean would have been proud of. "Good luck to them with that. If this don't wake him up, I don't know what will."

* * *

"Do you think he's going to be okay?," Sam asked repeating the most common phrase they'd been using for the last few days as he used a cool cloth to wipe the sweat off of his brother's forehead again. Dean had spiked a fever about two hours ago and it was still rising.

John looked up from his place in the chair on the opposite side of the bed, a hard look in his eye. "He'll be fine," he snapped at his youngest, his temper not at it's best. It had been two weeks and there had not been so much as a twitch from Dean despite Anderson's ministrations, not even when his temperature had started climbing. "Your brother's tough and he's not a quitter."

Sam took a deep breath and ignored what he felt had been yet another jab at him. Now was not the time or the place to start getting into it with his father again. "No he's not," he replied placidly. Standing Sam dipped the cloth into the basin on the side table and wrung it out. Placing that down he picked up the thermometer and then gently placed it in his brother's ear. He waited for the bleep and then frowned at the figure.

"Well?"

He raised his eyes to his father. "Ninety nine, it's gone up again."

"He's had worse. If it tops the hundred we'll use some ice to try and bring it back down," John sighed, stood, wiped at the stubble on his face and stretched himself out. "You want a coffee?"

Sam thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah."

John turned for the door and hesitated. "You still take it girly?"

Sam snorted at that, Dean and John had always ribbed him about taking cream in his coffee. He nodded and then dropped himself back down into the chair he'd been sitting on.

John stared at the slouched shoulders of his youngest for a minute or two and then cleared his throat. "You want to take a break for a while? I got this. Go get some sleep? I'll call you if there is any change." The older man was hovering next to him now, hand out in mid air as if unsure whether to touch it down to Sam's shoulder or not.

"No. I want to be here when he wakes up."

John could see the same worry he had reflected in his son's eye. "Scared in case he thinks you've left?," he asked trying and failing to keep any sort of accusation from his tone.

Sam scowled at his dad. "No!," he said a little too sharply letting John know that he had hit a nerve. "Are you? Is that why you're sitting here instead of hunting down Pauline? So that he doesn't think that you've ditched him again?"

Anger flashed in John's eyes but to his credit he damped it down, guilt helping him control his ire. "I had my reasons for leaving your brother to hunt on his own."

"Well I had my reasons too!," Sam countered, the _you were one of them_ went unsaid.

"Yeah, but none of your reasons were for his benefit." John turned signaling an end to the conversation. "I'll go get that coffee."

Sam resisted throwing the bowl of water at the closing door in a fit of pique. Instead he sighed. He wasn't sure how much more of the tension between him and his father that he could take. The last two weeks had been the longest of his life and that wasn't just due to his brother's state of health. Neither he nor John had gotten much sleep and deep down Sam knew that his father was right, he was afraid Dean would wake up and think that he'd left. All in all, the worry and the lack of sleep was a recipe for disaster but he didn't know what to do to avoid it other than take up John's offer and rest. That though just wasn't happening; he was going to be here for his brother when he woke up.

He pulled his laptop back onto his knee and opened up the emails from his friends at school as a distraction. He smiled that there where more than a few from Jessica, the girl that he had been trying to pick up the courage to ask out. She had sent him on casework that he needed to complete and the names of a few of the books that he was required to read. He made a quick mental note to ask Jim if there where any bookshops in the town that he could maybe find the books in or order them from, failing that he'd ask if he could use this address to get them sent to. He did want to and couldn't afford to, fall too far behind in his course work.

He turned to his quiet sibling, reaching out and gently resting his hand on Dean's own. "You should see this girl Dean, she _is_ hot," Sam chuckled softly to his sleeping brother. "….or maybe you shouldn't see her seeing as how I like her and I saw her first," he added with a smile. "What do you think? Think I should just say to hell with it and go for it? Do what you would do and just ask her out? I know what you'd say if you saw her – girl's outta your league Sammy!" Sam laughed a little at how clearly he could hear Dean saying that in his head and suddenly a few tears spilled down his cheeks and he squeezed his brother's hand tightly. "I missed you, you know. I thought about you every day. I was even gonna call a few times but…I…it was too hard. Easier to keep myself sane by pretending you and dad didn't exist and move on than admit to missing you or worrying that one of you was hurt or dying…. Guess I would have been right to worry though huh?" He sighed. "What a mess our family is." Wiping at his face he sat there and gently massaged the top of Dean's hand with his fingers, hoping that the touch would reach where needles and words hadn't or couldn't. Wasn't his brother always more about gestures and little touches to show he cared rather than soft words and vocal sentiments?

It was the sharp drop in temperature that pulled him from his reflections.

It had happened a few times as he'd sat there but nothing had come of it. Twice though he'd fallen asleep only to jerk awake to find Pauline standing at the foot of the bed before she had just faded to nothing.

It had prompted John to load the shotguns that now resided under either side of the bed and Sam leant forward to grasp the one nearest to him. As he did Dean finally took that moment to shift on the bed, a low moan escaping his lips, drawing the younger man's attention down to him. Sam touched his brother's hand again with his free one and quietly whispered his name but Dean was still now.

"I didn't mean to hurt him." Sam jumped at the voice so close to his ear.

"I know," he answered tightening his grip on the shotgun as he turned.

Pauline was standing there watching him. "What are you going to do to me?," she asked Sam. "Are you going to kill me?"

"No." He didn't point out to her that she was dead already.

"You should you know. I can't be trusted."

"Can….." The softly spoken word had them both looking towards the bed. Dean's eyes where opened, if a tad glazed.

All thoughts of Pauline fled Sam's head as he dropped the shotgun into his lap and reached for Dean's hand again. "Hey, took your own sweet time coming back to us. How are feeling?" He gently brushed the fingers of his free hand across Dean' forehead.

"Th…," Dean swallowed, trying to get enough spit in his mouth to talk. "Thirsty."

"Dad will be back in a minute and I'll get you some crushed ice. Okay?"

"'K." Dean's eyes drifted closed again and Sam leant closer.

"Think you can stay with us for a little while, Bert wanted to give you the once over when you were awake." Sam snorted as Dean managed to raise a weary eyebrow at the name. "I know!," he chuckled, squeezing his brother's hand as he did.

Dean's eyes shifted past Sam to where Pauline was standing and he shot her a weak smile, trying to speak as he did. Before he could get a word out, the door opened and John strode into the room with the coffee. Pauline winked out as soon as he stepped into the room.

"What was she doing here?" He asked looking between where the ghost had been and the shotgun lying on Sam's lap missing the fact that Dean's head moved to track him as he moved closer.

"Dean's awake."

John's attention immediately swiveled to his son on the bed and a smile crept over his tired features. "Gave us a scare there," he said as he moved round the bed knowing that trying to budge Sam over would end in words that Dean wasn't up to hearing at the moment. Dean turned his head towards him and tried to speak. "What was that son?," he asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed and leant in, unwittingly mimicking Sam's action of brushing his hand across Dean's damp forehead.

"Bert," Dean forced out as he fought the eyebrow up again. "Really?"

John chuckled. "Really!"

Dean fought the urge to just slip under again. "Pauline," he got out before he started to cough weakly.

John gently rolled him onto his good side unwilling to get him up into a sitting position just yet. "She's been hanging around a bit." He noted the concern in his son's eyes and quelled it. "Don't worry, we haven't done anything to her yet, had more important things on our minds."

Dean nodded weakly and then had to close his eyes. "Don't, 's my job," he stated just as he felt the blackness rise up and welcome him back.

* * *

Pauline was sitting on the bottom of the bed when he opened his eyes the next time, Sam and his father both snoring softly in the chairs on either side of him. Their relief at Dean having finally woken seemed to steal their resolve to remain awake.

_How are you? _The word seemed to tumble into his head and Dean realised that Pauline hadn't spoken them.

_I'll live, _he replied, smiling a little when she nodded confirmation that she'd heard him.

_I'm sorry._

The choked sound to the words as they drifted into his thoughts caused a pain to rise inside him. _No, I told you I was okay with anything that you wanted to do, don't be sorry. It was my fault, not yours. I should have realised what it would be like, known how angry that you would be with them. Hell, how angry I would be with them._

_Does it hurt? _Concern and sadness filled him as Pauline projected not just her thoughts but the way she was feeling to him.

_Nope. Not anymore. _

Pauline looked to the sleeping figures of the others and sighed. _So what now? _

Dean closed his eyes not wanting to answer that question. He liked Pauline, her frying his insides aside. He hoped that she would be going to a better place but then he had let her soil her spirit, her soul even, by killing two men. The thought hit him that he too would have the judgment of their deaths laid down on his shoulders at some point but he mentally shrugged the thought away. Wasn't there lots of things that he had done that would block him from Heaven's door? What was another two indiscretions?

_Do I need to leave now?_

Pauline's thought interrupted his own and he beckoned her closer to him, took her hand in his. He didn't answer the question but the look in her eyes as she smiled sadly down at him told him he didn't have to.

Sam stirred in the seat beside her and she leaned down quickly, her cold lips brushing Dean's own. The cold seemed to pulse through his blood, chilling his overheated skin.

"I want it to be you," she whispered softly against him and then she was gone.

It took him a minute to realise that the tears on his cheeks where his own. _It will be. _He sent the thought out after her and then turned to look at his brother just as Sam opened his eyes. His brother's bright smile at seeing him awake dimmed as he looked at him. "Dean? What's wrong?"

"It's time," he muttered softly, watching as Sam strained to hear the words.

"Time?," his brother asked, the confusion clear on his face.

"Pauline," Dean clarified. "It's time."


	23. Chapter 23

Okay so sorry doesn't cut it anymore! This story is jinked between me and my family not being well and now BOTH my pc and my century old laptop decided to quit in the same week - send for the boys! My brother-in-law gets special mention as he is an IT guy and finally got the laptop up and running again. (Afraid we are going to have to salt and burn the PC) This chapter gives the story a little closure but I have an idea for taking it on and the Sam leaving/Dean recovering hasn't really happened yet so watch this space - just don't hold your breath! lol

Thank you again for all the support and reviews, they are unanswered to my shame but greatly appreciated. Mary xx

* * *

Turned out that the time to free Pauline didn't come for another week or so as Dean did one of the things that he did best and his fever spiked so high that John was almost taking him to the hospital, cops be damned. The decision not to had Sam and John at each others throat over his care and needs.

Dean vaguely remembered the sound of the angry voices and the harsh words that his family threw at each other. He remembered wanting to tell them the shut the hell up and leave but he couldn't fight through the fog in his head long enough to do it. When he finally managed to throw the fever and get on his feet, albeit with the aid of his crutches, he knew what he had to do, much as his insides churned at the though of his brother leaving.

So he did one of the other things that he did best in the world. He hunted down his prey and showed it no mercy.

"I want you to go."

Sam tightened his lips and frowned at his brother. "But you're still hurt….," he started to say, the frown deepening as Dean cut him off.

"What can you do to help? You got some kind of power that I don't know about? One that can heal bones?" He forced himself up onto his feet and snatched for his crutches. "You should be at school. You know it and I know it. What's keeping you here isn't important."

"You're what's keeping me here…"

"Exactly my point," Dean groused as he moved closer.

Sam changed tact quickly, realising a losing argument when he saw it. "You need help with dealing with Pauline….,"

"…..and I got Bobby and Dad for that." Dean hobbled over and eased himself into the chair opposite his brother, a defiant look on his face.

"…but,…. but,….." Sam didn't know what he could say that would change Dean's mind. His could see that his pig headed, mule of a brother had made up his mind and Sam knew that he was going to be in his face about it now until he caved. He still tried to reason with Dean, not wanting to leave him just yet, only half healed as he was. Dean though had other ideas.

"Exactly, but what? There is no reason for you to stay. I appreciate that you've been here this long but you have to go Sam." Dean looked down at the ratty old sweats he was wearing and pulled at a loose thread.

"Why? Why are you trying to get rid of me? Why me and not Dad?" Sam slammed the book that he had been reading closed and pushed back his chair, folding his arms and scowling.

Dean's voice was low when he answered. "God, this isn't about you and Dad Sam. It's about me and what I need okay? And what I need is for you to go Sam. Please. Can you just for once in your god damn life do what someone asks you to?" He wiped a tired hand over his face and stared at his brother until Sam had to look away, a huge sigh escaping him as he did.

"Tell me why and I will."

"I told you why, there's nothing left to keep you here." Dean went back to tearing up his sweats and his brother watched for a while before he conceded defeat.

"Fine," he huffed. Standing he swept the books from the table into his bag and heaved it onto his shoulder. "I'll leave in the morning if you've in such a hurry to get rid of me."

"Sam,…."

"No, no. You're right. I have absolutely no reason left to be here. I'll go back where I belong and leave all you hunters to it." He stomped out the room door and slammed it behind him.

Dean let his head fall onto the table with a soft thunk. _One down, _he thought,_ one to go._

He didn't know how long he had sat there before he heard the door to the room open and Bobby's voice. "How you doing kid?"

Dean raised his head and gave Bobby an 'okay' sign with his left hand.

"That good?," the elder man chuckled as he stepped in and closed the door behind him. "I see Sam's packing," he offered conversationally.

"Told him to, we don't need him here for this."

Bobby sat down and clasped his hands on the table. "You okay with that?"

Dean raised his head fully this time and sat back. "Has to leave sometime right? Better now than later."

"That bad huh?" Dean looked at the old man and wondered not for the first time what Bobby could always see in his eyes that his family never seemed to be able to.

"I miss him Bobby and having him around, well that just reminds me how much."

The older hunter just nodded an acknowledgement and then checked his watch. "Bert's coming over to see about maybe getting that cast off. You up for that or will I tell him to hang fire, it's only been three or four weeks…."

Dean's face brightened for the first time since Bobby could remember. "Hell no, if this can come off, then let's do it."

Bobby got up and headed for the door. "I'll tell him to bring the saw then…."

"Saw?" Dean's snatched at his crutches and heaved himself up onto his feet. "What saw?" He started to follow Bobby slowly out of the room. "I ain't letting that maniac near my leg with no saw…..I mean did you **see **what he did with those needles!" He held out his arm that still bore the marks.

Bobby just chuckled at that and made his exit, his laughter drifting up to Dean from the stairs as the older man headed down to make the call.

* * *

Bobby, John and Sam all watched as Bert cut the plaster off of Dean's leg, the former two trying to hide their smiles at the worried look on Dean's face as the _medic_ sliced into it with a power tool that really wasn't designed for the job. The later looked on with a keen disinterest.

"You ever cut anything off with that before?," Dean asked with a nervous laugh.

"Guy's hand….," Bert offered conversationally as he dug in a little deeper and Dean swallowed nervously. "But I meant to do that," he finished.

"Funny guy," Dean muttered and looked back up at his father's face for something to concentrate on apart from the mad man that was sawing away at his leg. "What you grinning at?," he groused.

John cleared his throat and shot Dean a little smile. "Don't worry, he's an expert."

Bobby snorted, Bert chuckled, and Dean shot John a cold look. "Do not make him laugh!," he scolded.

With a final dip of the power tool that he was using Bert killed the power and reached for the rough edges of the cast. "On three okay?," he said to Dean even as he pulled. The cast gave suddenly and Dean hissed his discomfort as his leg was jostled.

"All done," Bert said cheerfully raising Dean's leg up and sliding the cast out and onto the floor. "Let's see how it's healed."

"Hello leg," Dean offered a little wistfully as he looked down on his whiter than normal skin.

"You broke a leg before?," Bert asked as he began poking and prodding at Dean's.

"Twice, not this one though. That hurts!"

Bert just shot him a smile. "Okay, then you know the drill and my work here is done." He turned and started packing up his things and Dean watched as he tried to wiggle his toes gently to ease some proper circulation into them. "What was that blue stuff that you used?"

Bert stopped and shrugged then got back to his packing." A little trick I picked up in Congo."

"Hurt like a bitch," Dean grumbled as he gingerly swung his leg off the table and down onto the floor, John stepping forward with a crutch and a 'don't even' look in his eye.

"Got you awake didn't it?" Bert shot him a smile and heaved his bag on his shoulder. "Well it's been fun and all but my brother and I, we're outta here." He saluted John and slapped his hand down on the older man's shoulder. "Another one you owe me John. Got a job coming up, might call it in."

"You know how to find me," John answered reaching out to help Dean to his feet only to be swatted away.

"Good luck with that," Dean muttered under his breath.

"You say something?," John asked raising his eyes to Dean's own.

"I said, I got it." Getting his good leg on the ground first Dean got to his feet, staggering a little and letting out a hiss as he pulled his side trying to keep himself upright.

John and Sam rolled their eyes in unison. "Looks like it," John offered as he stepped back.

The concern was smothering so Dean did the only thing he could think of. He deflected it. "You ready to go yet?," he asked his brother watching as Sam went from concerned to pissed off instantly.

"Jim says I can stay as long as I like." Sam crossed his arms defiantly.

Dean just stared at him. "You career changing _again _Sam?," he snarked back. "Wow, going from would-be hunter to college geek to mall guard?" Dean stepped forward carefully, smiling a little as his leg took the weight that he dared to put on it. "Although, you know, there ain't any mall left to guard, don'tcha?"

Sam drew himself up to his full height and looked down on his brother knowing how much that being the short one irked Dean. "Still, it would be better than having to hunt with you two." He turned and walked away at that.

John shot Dean a look.

"What," his eldest asked with a shrug. "You think that he's gonna stay here and hunt?"

"It doesn't mean that you have to chase him away."

Dean snorted.

John glowered. "What?"

Bobby stepped in and rescued Dean, almost voicing the younger man's thoughts for him. "Not like you didn't chase him away the first time John, boy's just following your example." He cut John off as he tried to speak. "Don't John. I don't want to hear it and neither does Dean. Sam don't belong here anymore, whether any of us would like him too or not so it's best we make the cut as quick and as painless as possible for all of us." He threw a pointed look at Dean and then walked over and put a hand on John's shoulder. "Much like you shoulda done the first time." With that he walked away.

Dean hobbled to the door only to be stopped by his father's voice. "He'd stay if you asked him to."

He turned with a wry smile on his face. "No," he answered with a sad shake of his head. "He wouldn't, not for long anyway. Besides, I don't want him to, he's got a life and it's not here." With that he hobbled out after Bobby.

* * *

John wiped the sweat from his forehead and leant on the shovel, watching his eldest son hobble to the side of the grave and then lower himself to the ground. Dean slid his legs over the edge and looked down at the open coffin that housed the remains of Pauline. He'd lost count of the times that he'd done this but he couldn't remember doing it for anyone that he knew. Digging his hand into his pocket he pulled out the box of matches and then just sat there, turning the box round in his hand as he waited for her to show.

After a few minutes he raised his head and turned briefly to where his father and Bobby stood. They shrugged at his enquiring glance and he let out of soft sigh and turned back to look out over the grave. "Pauline," he uttered softly. "You there?"

The temperature dropped and he looked to the side, watching as the mist thickened into form and then into Pauline. She didn't look at him, just stared down into the grave.

"Hey." Reaching out Dean placed his hand on hers.

"Hey," she replied, her gaze still locked on the grave.

"So." He didn't know how to start this.

"Isn't there supposed to be a white light that takes you off to heaven?," she asked him, finally turning to look at him.

"Don't know," he answered with a soft shrug.

"There is in all the books and on television, ghosts always get pulled off to heaven in a beautiful, white light." She paused, looked back at the grave. "Does that mean that I'm not going there?"

"No." He said it a little more forcefully than he meant to causing Bobby and John both to start towards them. "It's okay," he called out and then squeezed her hand. "No," he said more softly this time. "You deserve to get your place upstairs…."

"…but I killed people."

"Only the ones that killed you, that tried to kill me. Name one person that you hurt when you were alive?"

She hesitated.

"See? You can't. If you can't get into heaven then there's no hope for any of us." He waved his hand in the direction of where the others stood.

"Will it hurt? When you burn me?"

Dean blanched. That thought had occurred to him before but it had always been crazy, homicidal ghosts that he'd put down so he hadn't dwelled on it. "I don't know," he answered truefully. "I hope not. It's over quickly," he added.

She moved closer to him, touching his face and pressing her lips softly to his cheek. "Thank you."

Dean didn't know what to say to that so he just nodded. They sat like that for a few minutes and then Pauline pulled back and dropped into the grave. "Time to go then?"

She flashed him a weak smile and then gestured for him to move back. "I'll see you on the other side Dean. Be careful."

"Count on it." He pulled his legs free from the side of the grave and shuffled back a little. "Bye Pauline."

Her smile lit her face as his hand lit the match and then he dropped it, rearing back as the flames quickly took hold of her remains. Her smile dropped as the flames spread and he knew then that she was in pain, the mask on her face not quite solid enough to hide it. "Pauline?," he called, thoughtlessly reaching out, almost touching her hand until the flames and the sudden presence of his father forced him back.

"Dean!" His name was half-cried, half-screamed as the flames finally ate enough of the body in the coffin to free her and she vanished in a plume of smoke and ash.

He slumped forward, the steadying hands of his father stopping him from toppling too far. "Shit." The word was ground out between gritted teeth even as he raised a hand, wiping it quickly across his face. He reached up and grabbed John's arm. "Get me out of here."

"We'll get you back to the car and Bobby and I will sort her grave right. Come on." John tugged him carefully to his feet and helped him across the grass to the truck. Dean stopped as they approached, reaching out his hand and grasping the metal. "I got it from here," he informed his worried father." Just go help Bobby."

John hovered for a moment too long and Dean turned, the flames reflecting in the tears that shone in his eyes. "Go." He pushed John off and the older man went, giving Dean the little space he needed to get himself together.

Once he was alone he rested his arm on the cold steel in front of him and then his head on that.

He wanted to get out of here now, leave this town and just get out on the road.

Go to Bobby's; get the Impala and then just drive.

He shivered in the cold wind that sweeped the graveyard.


End file.
